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iJte  1.  a.  HiU  Cihrara 

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^"ortl^  (Earnlina  i^tatp  llmopraitii 

Z.  SMITH  REYNOLDS 
FOUNDATION 

COLLECTION  IN 

SCIENCE  AND  TECHNOLOGY 

SB191 
M2 
G58 
1879 


s 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  DATE 
INDICATED  BELOW  AND  IS  SUB- 
JECT TO  AN  OVERDUE  FINE  AS 
POSTED  AT  THE  CIRCULATION 
DESK. 


100M/7-87— 871203 


M.    AUGUSTE    GOFFART. 


55 


Published  by 
J.    B.    BROWN, 
Beekman    Street,    New  York 


THE 


ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE, 


AND    OTHER 


GREEN    FODDER   CROPS, 

BY 

M.    AUGUSTE    GOFEART, 

Clievalier  de,  la  Legion  (VFTonneur,  Member  of  the  Central  Agricultural  Society  of  France^  ^x. 


PARIS,    1877. 

TRANSLATED  BY 

J.    B.    BROWK. 

Togetlier  with  a  History  of  the  Introduction  and  the  Present  Condition 
of  the  Art  in  the  United  States. 


NEW  YORK: 
1879. 


Entered  iiccordiiifj  to  Act  of  CoDgress,  in  the  year  1879, 

By   I.  C.  BROWN, 

In  the  Office  of  tlie  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


RTKIlKO-rvPKl)    ASn  l-UINTKI)  IIV 

THE  NATIONAL  PKINTING  COJIPANY, 
16,  18,  20  ANi.  'J2  Chamrkks  Sthkki-, 

MKW  YORK. 


TO    THE 


MEMBERS 


OF   THE 


^^l^ 


mttii  ^tnlnilit  iF^,griciiIfiir,e 

DE    FRANCE. 


If  is  to  )/ou  fhaf  T  dedicafp  this  JiWp  hool- ;  to  yon  trho  hare 
rrcrivcd  so  favorahli/  iitij  earhj  e forts  in  this  matter. 

Yon  will  see  that  the  author  has  not  slept  upon  his  first  siteeess, 
and  that  during  the  past  two  years  he  has  made  much  progress. 

It  is  for  you  to  judge  if  the  end  is  entirely  attained,  as  he  be- 
lieves  it  to  he,  or  if  he  should  continue  to  seek  further  improrewetd 
in  this  art  which  he  considers  now  perfectly  acquired  in  agriculturcd 
practice. 

At  any  rate,  he  now  suhmits  his  work  to  yonr  impartial 
judgment. 

AUGUSTE     GOFFART. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Vocabulary  of  Feench  Words 7 

Preface 9 

Chapter     I. — Advantages  to  be  derived  from  the  Preservation  of  Green 

Fodder  by  Ensilage 11 

"           II.— Varieties  of  Maize 13 

''          III.  &  IV. — Laud  suitable  to  the  Production  of  Maize 14 

'          V.  &  VI.— Methods  of  Culture 17 

''          VII.— Yield  of  Maize 18 

"          VIIL— Food  Value  of  Maize 18 

"          IX.— Prickly  Comfrey  of  the  Caucasus 22 

"          X. — Processes  for  Assuring  the  Preservation  of  Green  Maize.  23 

"           XI. — How  the  Green  Maize  should  be  cut 25 

"          XII.— Proportion  of  Straw 27 

"          XIII. — Compression  of  the  Silos 29 

"          XIV. — The  Proper  Hydrometric  Condition 30 

"          XV. — Effect  of  Ensilage  upon  Fodder 30 

"          XVI.— How  to  Build  a  Silo 33 

"          XVIL— How  to  Fill  a  Silo 34 

"          XVIII.— The  new  Stables  at  Burtin,  and  their  Silos 36 

"          XIX.— Conclusions— Effects  of  Frost 38 

Extract  from  M.  Goffart's  Speech  at  Blois,  May  8,  1875 40 


APPENDIX. 

Chapter    I.— Report  of  the  Central  Agricultural  Society  of  France. . .  45 

"  II.— Extract  from  the  Journal  of  Agriculture,  France 49 

"  III. — Extract  from  the  Journal  of  Agriculture,  France 50 


G  CONTEXTS. 

I'AGE 

CliAi'TEi;     l\'. — The  Analysis  und  Compu.siliun  of  Maize 51 

\'. — Extract   from   the   lleport   to  the  Agricultural  Club  of 

Ronioraiiliii 59 

\'l. — Extract  from  the  Report   to  the   Central  Agricultural 

Committee  of  Sologne 60 

''  VII. — Extract  from  the  Speech  of  President  of  Central  Agri- 

cultural   Committee  of    Sologne    .\jinouncing   the 
Award  of  the  Decoration  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  to 

:Monsieur  GoflFart (52 

Introduction  of  Ensilage  to  the  United  Stales,  by  Francis  Morris,  Es(i.  03 

Letter  from  Mons.  Goifart,  Dec.  4,  1878 05 

Conclusions  by  the  Translator 07 

Composition  of  Maize  (grain) 71 

Disadvantage  of  Drying  Com-fodder 71 

Food  Ligredients — Chemical  Terms  Explained 72 

Farming  for  Profit 73 

Pearl    Millet 70 

The  Ensilage  Cutter 77 


VOCABULARY  OF  FRENCH  WORDS, 

PRESERVED   IN  TRANSLATION,  SOME  OF  WHICH    SHOULD  BE  ADOPTED  INTO 
OUR  OWN  LANGUAGE. 


Centimetre. — joVo^  ^"^^^  i  about  j^g-  inch. 

Centime. —  jL  uf  English  penny,  or  \  American  cent. 

Ensikige. — The  act  of  compressing  into  pits,  trenches,  or  compartments  culled 
silos  ;  also  the  green  crops  so  preserved. 


Hectare. — 2^^^^  acre,  or  100  French  ares. 

Hectolitre.— 21  gallons;  2f|  bushels. 

Kilogramme. — 2^^^^^  lb.  advoirdupois  ;  about  2  lb.  3^  oz. 

Litre. — 1 1§^  pint ;  Gl  cubic  inches. 

2Iuize. — The  corn-plant. 

ilfefre.— 3.2808992  ft. ;    aI)out  3ft.  31  inches. 

Silo. — Excavation,  pit,  or  trench,  hollowed  in  the  ground  (Littre),  or  any  com- 
partment used  for  storing  green  fodder  in  an  air-tight  manner. 


PREFACE. 


In  beginning,  four  years  ago,  my  publications  on  the 
subject  of  ensilage,  I  did  not  deceive  myself,  nor  hide  from 
the  world  that  my  success  was  far  from  being  complete,  and 
that  my  task  was  not  on  the  eve  of  being  accomplished. 
Since  that  time  I  have  worked  incessantly  to  perfect  my  early 
methods.  I  have  rectified,  one  by  one,  my  erroneous  ideas  as 
to  the  modifications  that  the  fodder  undergoes  in  the  silo,  and 
in  consequence  I  have  made  various  changes  in  my  early 
processes.  Since  my  first  writings  I  have  been  compelled  to 
renounce  certain  views  which  I  believed  to  be  indisputable. 
It  is  important  to  be  able  to  confess  to  ourselves  when  we  are 
mistaken,  and,  above  all,  to  confess  to  others,  without  self- 
love,  and  with  no  other  desire  but  for  the  truth.  Thanks  to 
this  freedom  from  the  prejudice  of  preconceived  opinion,  I 
have  con-ected  my  early  erroneous  views,  and  I  can  to-day 
recommend  to  my  agricultural  brothers  a  complete  system  of 
ensilage,  applicable  to  all  green  crops  without  distinction,  and 
can  guarantee  to  them  an  entire  success  if  they  will  follow 
to  the  letter  all  my  directions.  For  many  years  I  have  been 
interested  in  agricultm-al  as  well  as  industrial  and  commer- 
cial afi'airs.  At  the  age  of  24  years  I  built,  in  Belgium,  the 
high  furnaces  of  Monceaux,  one  of  the  most  important  estab- 


10  PREFACE. 

lishments  in  the  country,  and  for  forty  years  I  have  lieen  one 
of  the  directors.  In  1846  I  acquired  the  domain  of  Biu'tin  in 
Sologne,  which  contained  about  1,200  hectares.  Since  that 
time  my  Hfe  has  been  divided  between  agricultural  and  in- 
dustrial pm*suits.  It  was  at  Burtin,  in  1852,  that  I  com- 
menced to  study  practically  the  important  problem  of  the 
preservation  of  fodder. 

The  great  passion  of  my  whole  life  has  been  work.  It 
will  only  be  extinguished  with  my  life.  To  that  passion  I 
owe  the  honor  of  having  attached  my  name  to  an  agricultural 
system  of  which  the  importance  will  be  each  day  better  ap- 
preciated, and  will  increase  without  ceasing. 


Culture  and   Ensilage  of   Maize, 

AND  OTHER  GREEN  FODDER. 


CHAPTER  I. 


ADVANTAGES  TO  BE  DERIVED  FROM  THE  PRESERVATION 
OF  GREEN  FODDER  BY  ENSILAGE,  OVER  THE  METHOD 
OF  PRESERVATION  BY  DRYING. 

If  there  is  one  fact  recog-nized  by  all  agriculturists,  it  is 
that  a  certain  quantity  of  grass,  which,  consumed  in  a  green 
state  represents  an  ascertained  nutritive  value,  loses  a  consider- 
able portion  <  >f  that  value  in  passing  into  the  state  of  hay  in- 
tended for  the  winter  sustenance  of  animals. 

The  cow,  which  gives  us  in  summer,  while  feeding  on 
green  grass^  such  excellent  milk,  and  butter  of  such  agreeable 
color  and  flavor,  furnishes  us  in  winter,  when  she  eats  the 
same  grass  converted  into  hay,  an  inferior  quality  of  milk, 
and  pale,  insipid  liutter.  What  modifications  has  this  grass 
undergone  in  changing  to  hay"?  These  modifications  are 
numerous.  It  is  sufficient  to  cross  a  meadow  at  the  time  when 
the  new-mown  grass  is  undergoing  desiccation  in  order  to 
recognize  that  it  is  losing  an  enormous  quantit}'  of  its  sub- 
stance that  exhales  in  the  air  in  agreeable  odors,  but  which, 
if  they  remained  in  the  plant,  would  serve  as  a  condiment,  fa- 
cilitating digestion  and  assimilation. 

All  stock-raisers,  those  of  Sologne  especially,  know  how 
rapidly  our  young  cattle  increase  in  weight  in  summer  on 
green  pasture,  which,  converted  into  hay  and  devoted  to  their 


12  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

nourishment  in  winter,  scarcely  keeps  them  in  statu  quo  ;  hay 
given  judiciously  does  not  always  prevent  them  from  becom- 
ing lean. 

Therefore  the  sole  fact  of  desiccation  accomplished  by  fine 
weather,  in  the  best  conditions,  causes  the  loss  of  a  consider- 
able part  of  essential  substance.  This  loss,  added  to  the 
physical  modifications  which  render  mastication  and  digestion 
of  the  hay  more  difficult  than  of  the  grass,  and  consequently 
assimilation  less  complete,  merits  the  most  serious  attention 
on  the  part  of  those  who  are  interested  in  agricultural  affairs. 

The  losses  which  I  have  mentioned  are  far  from  being  all 
that  result  from  oui'  method  of  transforming  grass  into  hay. 

Rains,  ofttimes  prolonged,  coming  upon  the  harvest,  the 
absence  of  sufficient  heat  in  autumn,  are  powerful  causes  of 
deterioration  of  hay. 

What  agriculturist  has  not  seen  a  hundi'ed  times  his  hay, 
injured  by  rain,  deprived  of  its  richest  and  most  assimilative 
elements!  The  rain  prolonged,  the  hay  is  invaded  by  a  species 
of  nauseous  rot,  which  disgusts  cattle  and  causes  formidable 
maladies  when  hunger  forces  them  to  eat  it.  If  these  things 
occur  to  the  common  fodder  crops — clover,  lucern,  sainfoin, 
etc. — what  would  happen  to  the  fodder  crops  of  high  growth 
and  great  yield,  such  as  maize  and  sorgho  f  Never  in  oiu* 
temperate  climate  could  we  obtain  for  these  a  sufficient  desic- 
cation by  the  sun. 

These  are  the  grave  inconveniences  which  from  time 
immemorial  have  induced  agriculturists  to  seek  some  new 
method  of  preservation  for  their  fodder.  It  is  nearly  a  centmy 
since  the  German,  Klapmayer,  called  the  attention  of  the  agri- 
cultural world  to  his  system  of  conversion  of  grass  into  ha}', 
and  which  still  bears  his  name — "  Brown  hay,  Klapmayer 
method."  This  method,  which  made  a  great  noise  at  the  time 
of  its  appearance,  has  had  its  seasons  of  popularity.  It  has 
been  successively  taken  up,  abandoned,  again  taken  up ;  but 
it  has  in  fact  never  been  firmly  implanted  into   agricultural 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  13 

practice.  For  my  part,  at  the  commencement  of  my  agricul- 
tural career,  more  than  thirty  years  ago,  I  pursued  some  expe- 
riments perseveringly  through  two  campaigns,  in  which  I  fol- 
lowed faithfully  the  directions  of  Klapmayer.  How  many 
times  have  I  arisen  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  with  one  of  my 
workmen,  in  order  to  satisfy  myself,  thermometer  in  hand,  that 
my  grass,  gathered  in  cocks  larger  or  smaller,  did  not  exceed 
the  degree  of  heat  prescribed  as  the  extreme  limit  to  insure 
excellent  preservation.  I  never  succeeded,  and  I  doubt  if  any 
other  persons  have  been  any  more  fortunate. 

A  few  years  later  I  gave  my  attention  to  the  culture  of 
maize,  and  I  began  to  seek  for  it  a  system  of  preservation 
by  ensilage.  I  have  therein  entirely  succeeded,  but  only  after 
thousands  of  experiments,  which  have  continued  not  less  than 
a  quarter  of  a  century.  It  is  that  all  agriculturists  may 
profit  by  the  experience  acquired,  often  at  my  cost,  upon  this 
important  subject,  that  I  have  written  this  Manual. 


II. 

VARIETIES  OF  MAIZE. 


In  order  to  have  early  fresh  maize  to  give  to  cattle  in  sum- 
mer, I  sow  in  May  a  half  hectare  of  forty-day  maize.  This 
is  a  variety  of  early  maize,  but  of  moderate  yield.  Its  pre- 
cocity is  its  principal  and  nearly  its  only  merit.  For  my  en- 
silages I  only  cultivate  the  large  foreign  maize,  which  I  will 
describe. 

The  maize  of  Nicaragua  holds,  evidently,  the  first  place; 
its  great  height,  the  great  number  of  large  leaves,  which  cover 
it  from  root  to  top  ;  the  product  in  weight,  superior  to  all,  con- 
stitutes an  incontestable  superiority.     Next  comes  the  maize  of 


14  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

Algeria,  recently  imported  into  our  African  colonj^  under  the 
name  of  Caragua,  and  cultivated  by  M.  de  Bonand,  the  skill- 
ful agriculturist  who  presides  over  the  Society  of  Agricul- 
ture of  Algiers.  This  maize  is  excellent  in  every  respect ;  the 
sprouting  sure,  the  product  considerable.  It  is  to  l^e  desired 
that  Algeria  should  prepare  to  send  it  to  us  in  large  quantities. 
I  have  sown  no  other  kind  the  past  year. 

Translator's  Note. — M.  Goflfarfc  devotes  several  chapters  to  the  consideration  of 
the  subject  of  i)rocuring  seed  from  Central  America,  which  is  rendered  difficult  by  the 
flies  that  infest  tropical  grain.  It  would  seem  that  in  order  to  have  large  corn-stalks 
ill  France  it  is  necessary  to  use  imported  seed.  As  the  United  States  produces  some 
very  tall  corn-stalks,  I  have  written  him  to  know  why  the  inventive  ability  of  the 
farmers  of  the  United  States  has  not  been  set  at  work  to  produce  a  seed  corn  that 
would  yield  large  and  tall  stalks  in  France. 

The  author  speaks  of  a  Hungarian  maize  which  exceeds  three  metres  in  height 
and  twenty  centimetres  (or  eight  inches)  in  circumference.  He  also  mentions  Dent 
de  cheval  (horse-tooth)  as  being  sold  at  a  moderate  price.  This  is  doubtless  our 
Dent  corn  (the  word  dent  originally  meaning  a  tooth).  He  seems  to  give  preference 
to  the  seed  raised  in  Algeria,  of  American  origin,  and  called  Caragua. 


III.  AND  IV. 

landkS  suitable  to  the  production  of  maize. 

I  DO  not  pretend  that  all  soil  is  adapted  to  a  profitable 
culture  of  maize.  There  are  certain  indispensable  conditions  of 
the  physical,  hygrometric  and  chemical  state  of  the  soil,  the 
absence  of  which  will  render  impossible  the  profitable  culture 
of  this  fodder  crop  ;  but  in  most  instances  it  will  answer  to  in- 
crease, for  the  first  two  crops,  the  manuring  and  dressing,  in 
order  to  obtain  a  large  production,  which  will  give  a  sort  of 
impetus  to  the  new  culture,  and  will  be  the  point  of  dej^arture 
of  a  most  happy  transformation.  As  in  a  machine,  however 
well  constructed,  it  is  necessary  to  overcome  at  first  the  force 
of  inertia. 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  15 

At  Burtin  m}^  soil  possesses  some  qualities  very  favorable 
for  this  culture,  but  for  four  years  my  processes  left  much  to 
be  desired,  aud  within  two  years  I  have  made  more  progress 
than  I  had  obtained  during  twenty  years  j^receding.  The 
large  quantity  of  maize  that  the  increase  of  this  culture  and 
ni}'  perfected  processes  have  placed  every  year  at  my  disjwsal 
has  permitted  me  to  double  the  number  of  m}'  stock ;  then 
each  animal  which  formerly  produced  13,000  kilogrammes  of 
dung  has  produced,  since  it  has  been  better  nourished,  nearly 
20,000  kilogrammes.  Therefore,  if  my  maize  requires  abund- 
ant manuring  it  causes  a  production  of  manure  more  than  suf- 
ficient. In  fact,  a  hectare  of  maize,  properly  treated  and  suc- 
cessfully preserved,  yields  a  product  of  more  that  50,000  kilo- 
grammes of  manure,  and  absorbs  hardly  one-third  of  this  quan- 
tit}'.  It  is  necessary  to  add  that  each  week  I  spread  upon  my 
dung-heaps  100  kilogrammes  of  phosphate.  This  practice 
gives  excellent  results,  above  all  in  Sologne,  where  our  soil, 
naturally  very  ^wor  in  phosphoric  acid,  requires  that  we  should 
fmiiish  it  in  every  possible  form.  Some  foreboding  people 
predicted  four  years  ago  that  I  would  lose  all  my  stock  if  I 
continued  to  feed  them  exclusively  on  maize  throughout  the 
year.  I  have  continued  to  do  so,  and  all  my  animals  enjoy 
excellent  health,  without  even  a  shadow  of  a  malady.  One  of 
the  most  valuable  properties  of  maize  is  the  power  of  self  suc- 
cession almost  indefinite.  Some  of  my  finest  maize  occupies 
a  field  wliich,  during  the  past  eighteen  years,  has  borne 
fourteen  harvests  of  that  plant  without  giving  any  signs  of 
weariness ;  on  tl\e  contrary,  the  later  yield  is  better  than  the 
former.  All  the  requirement  is  to  give  to  the  land  suitable 
manuring,  restoring  each  year  the  equivalent  of  that  which  is 
taken  off".  Potash  is  the  predominating  component  of  maize. 
Animals  consmning  it  assimilate  very  little  potash,  and  the 
dung-heap  restores  to  the  soil  nearly  all  of  it  that  has  been 
removed  in  the  crop.  Another  plant,  much  cultivated  in  So- 
logne, the  hemp,  possesses  also  the  property  of  eternalizing 


16  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

itself  upon  the  same  field.  Each  faiin  has  its  hemp  field, 
which,  for  centuries,  occupies  the  same  ground. 

The  soil  which  is  best  adapted  to  the  culture  of  maize  is 
of  medium  consistency,  rather  light  than  liea^y,  moist  without 
being  wet,  rich  in  alluvial  matter,  and  therefore  of  a  dark 
color.  It  is  remarkable  that  our  poor  Sologne  possesses  an 
abundance  of  this  kind  of  land,  as  if  Heaven  had  wished  to 
give  it  some  sort  of  compensation  for  all  its  other  inferiorities. 
Heavy  soil  is  equally  well  adapted  to  produce  very  fine  maize, 
but  requires  more  labor;  for  it  is  necessary  to  bring  it  to  a 
state  of  fine  pulverization,  at  the  risk  of  the  seed  not  sprouting, 
which  is  always  difficult  in  compact  earth.  In  general  terms, 
maize  mil  succeed  wherever  beets  do  well,  with  the  same 
conditions  as  to  manuring  and  top-dressing.  But  maize  can- 
not, of  course,  have  the  pretension  to  compete  with  advantage 
against  such  a  rival ;  above  all,  in  the  rich  countries  where 
for  so  long  a  time  it  has  been  cultivated  as  a  plant  that  is  both 
valuable  in  commerce  (sugar)  and  for  fodder.  In  those  parts 
maize  can  only  make  for  itself  a  modest  place,  as  a  means  of 
varying  a  little  the  food  of  our  animals. 

But  in  those  countries,  such  as  the  South  of  France  and 
Algeria,  where  the  excessive  heat  causes  the  beet  to  fail,  there 
maize  will  render  immense  service.  Preserved  by  ensilage,  it 
will  assure  at  all  times  to  the  cattle  sufficient  food,  instead  of 
those  alternations  of  abundance  and  scarcity  which  often  have 
such  sorrowful  results. 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  17 

V.  AND  VI. 
METHODS  OF   CULTURE. 

FoEMEELY  I  planted  my  maize  in  ridges,  which  has  been 
the  sole  method  practiced  for  a  long  time  in  the  fields  of  our 
Sologne.  The  ridge  in  shallow  soil  but  little  dug  up  is  an 
excellent  method  for  protecting  the  fall  seeding  against  the 
w^et,  so  destructive  in  winter.  But  as  a  spring  crop  it  is  neces- 
sary to  give  up  the  ridges  entirely,  and  to  replace  them  bj^ 
beds  more  or  less  extensive.  These,  by  yielding  less  evapo- 
ration, pro^dde  better  than  the  ridge  against  the  dryness  of 
summer.  Another  motive,  more  serious,  pleads  also  in  favor 
of  beds.  When  well  compressed  by  a  heavy  roller,  they  pro- 
tect the  seed,  more  effectually  than  the  ridge,  against  one  of 
the  most  to  be  dreaded  plagues  of  this  culture.  At  the  mo- 
ment when  the  little  shoot  makes  its  appearance  out  of  the 
earth,  the  birds  come  in  crowds,  in  order  to  pull  up  and  eat  the 
grain  which  adheres  to  and  comes  out  of  the  soil  with  it, 
especially  when  the  soil  is  light,  as  it  commonly  is  in  Cologne. 
I  have  lost  several  times  a  third,  and  sometimes  a  half,  of  my 
maize,  devoured  thus  at  the  birth,  by  crows,  pies,  and  pigeons, 
which  swarm  in  our  fields.  A  good  rolling  of  my  beds  with  a 
heavy  stone  roller  is  an  effective  preservative  against  the 
danger  which  I  have  mentioned.  When  the  earth  has  heen 
well  packed  down  by  the  roller,  the  bird  that  pulls  up  the 
shoot  of  maize  finds  that  it  breaks  off  near  the  ground  without 
being  followed  by  the  grain,  which  is  all  that  has  an}'  ^alue 
to  him.  Deceived  in  his  hope,  the  bird  gives  up  very  quicklv 
an  ungrateful  labor  which  refuses  him  the  reward  upon  \vhich 
he  had  reckoned.  Besides  this,  the  roller  is  an  instrument  of 
security  for  our  light  soil.  It  strengthens  the  hold  of  the 
plant  upon  the  soil,  and  it  has  saved,  twenty  times,  my  crops 
that  were  in  danger  by  being  laid  bare. 

The  use  of  the  seeding  machine  is  the  surest  and  least 


18  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  ()F  i\[AIZE. 

costly  method.  It  economizes  the  seed,  Avhich  often  costs  so 
dear,  and  it  gives  regular  and  equal  lines,  -which  render  the 
after  cultivation  very  easy.  For  want  of  a  machine,  I  have 
obtained  very  good  results  in  distributing  the  seed  by  hand, 
by  women,  who  follow  the  laborer  and  only  put  the  seed  in 
every  second  furrow.  I  obtained  thus  wider  rows,  but  regu- 
larly spaced  and  easily  cultivated. 

Note. — The  translator  supposes  that  the  gaug-plow  is  used  iu  this  case.  The 
French  plow  of  this  kind  excelled  even  our  American  plows  at  the  Paris  Exposition, 
and  is  to  be  introduced  into  this  country.  The  remainder  of  this  chapter  is  de- 
voted to  comparison  between  drilled  and  broadcast  sowing,  which  is  omitted  as 
valueless  to  the  American  farmer.  The  mechanical  genius  of  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  fostered  by  the  Patent  Office  and  rewarded  by  the  immense  demand  for  its 
results,  has  settled  this  question  to  the  great  relief  of  the  arms  and  backs  of  the 
laborers. 


VII. 
YIELD   OF   :\L\IZE. 


Thanks  to  the  care  that  I  have  specified,  I  obtain  from 
m}^  maize  an  enormous  yield.  In  the  past  five  years  the 
minimum  has  been  75,000  kilogrammes  per  hectare,  and  the 
maximum  415,000.  The  average  yield  has  been  1)0,000  kilo- 
grammes per  hectare. 

Note.— About  40  tons  to  the  acre. 


VIII. 

FOOD  VALUE   OF   ^[AIZE. 


It  is  only  by  experience  that  we  can  solve  the  question 
of  the  alimentary  value  of  maize.  I  can  assert,  however,  that 
at  my  home  at  Burtin,  in  the  way  in  which  I  prepare  it, 
maize  with  one-tenth  of  its  weight  of  oat   straw  maintains  my 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  10 


animals  in  perfect  condition.  It  would  be,  1  confess,  going 
too  far  to  say  that  maize  alone  has  the  faculty  of  making  very 
fat  animals  for  fairs,  or  for  high  quality  butcher  stalls.  Cows 
which  are  not  being  milked  quickly  take  a  condition  entirely 
satisfactory  to  our  country  butchers,  who  are,  as  a  class,  less 
exacting  than  those  of  the  city.  But  for  perfect  fattening  it  is 
necessary  to  add  other  aliments  to  the  regular  ration,  such  as 
beet-pulp.  I  have  tried  the  experiment  of  fattening  five  ani- 
mals with  my  preserved  maize,  and  an  addition  in  the  com- 
mencement of  four  kilogrammes  per  day  of  oilcake.  They 
became  fat  with  surprising  rapidity.  At  this  time  seventy- 
three  homed  animals  live  only  upon  maize  and  straw  on 
my  farms  at  Burtin  and  Gouillon,  and  my  stables  are  always 
open  to  visiting  farmers.  Maize  poorly  preserved  is  a  poor 
nutriment  for  animals,  and  may  even  become  a  poison  for 
them.  We  should  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  in  the  condi- 
tion of  the  preserved  fodder  there  are  an  infinite  number  of 
degrees  to  which  the  nutritive  value  con-esponds ;  the  method 
of  cutting,  the  chemical  modifications  to  which  it  is  subjected, 
cause  it  to  vary  from  single  to  double  the  nutritive  j^ower. 

Says  one  person  to  me,  "■  I  can  use  but  one-half  maize  in 
my  rations ;  otherwise  my  beasts  would  perish."  Another  says, 
"  One-third  is  the  maximum  quantity  that  my  beasts  can 
stand  in  their  rations."  Another  pretends  that  a  quarter  is 
hardly  endurable.  Grentlemen,  only  make  good  ensilages,  and 
all  will  change  with  you,  as  it  did  with  me.  The  ensilages  of 
my  first  attempts  were  no  better  than  yours.  Little  b}'  little 
I  have  made  them  l)etter,  and  therefore  better  supported  mv 
animals — that  is  thc^  whole  question.  My  much  regretted  re- 
lative, Louis  Pilat,  who  held  for  many  years  the  first  rank  in 
the  art  of  fattening  sheep,  when  pressed  by  me  to  divulge  his 
secret,  replied,  "  My  secret:  I  have  none  ;  it  is  only  a  question 
of  fare.  Liduce  the  animals  to  eat  abundantly  by  a  large 
choice,  variety,  and  good  preparation  of  food ;  that  is  all  there 
is  to  it." 


20  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

Now  is  maize  by  itself  a  rich  food  ?  Evidently  not.  With- 
out the  analyses  more  or  less  exact  that  have  been  published, 
one  fact  proves  its  lack  of  richness  in  nutritive  principles,  and 
that  is  the  large  quantity  that  animals  eat  in  order  to  keep 
them  in  g-ood  condition.  This  fact  I  have  recognized  and 
published  twenty  times.  No  one  would  pretend  that  a  kilo- 
granune  of  maize  could  be  made  to  take  the  place  of  a  kilo- 
gramme of  lucern,  clover,  or  French  grass  (sainfoin) ;  but  by 
supplying  in  quantity  what  it  lacks  in  richness,  we  can  main- 
tain our  animals  by  maize  as  well  as  by  the  richest  grasses. 
The  question  is  to  compare  the  selling  value,  or  rather  the 
price  that  retm-ns  from  the  two  kinds  of  fodder,  and  to  ascer- 
tain if  twice  the  quantity,  or  even  thiice,  does  not  cost  less 
than  the  products  that  it  replaces.  To  me,  the  affirmative  is 
not  in  doubt.  The  question  is  simpler  when  we  apply  it  to 
countries,  too  numerous  indeed,  which,  like  Sologne,  produce 
good  crops  of  maize,  but  are  rebellious  to  the  culture  of  rich 
fodder,  lucern,  sainfoin,  etc.  In  such  places  the  cultivator  has 
no  choice ;  he  has  only  to  avail  himself  of  the  benefits  of  maize, 
and  he  is  spared  all  embarrassment.  One  important  point  that 
a  long  practice  has  put  for  me  beyond  doubt  is  that  the  same 
green  maize  placed  nourishes  better,  the  weight  being  equal, 
when  it  is  cut  short  than  when  it  is  fed  whole,  and  that  its 
nutritive  power  increases  when  it  has  been  softened  by  lying 
several  weeks  in  a  silo,  then  undergoing  a  light  commencement 
of  alcoholic  fermentation  a  few  hours  before  being  fed  out.  I 
estimate  that  with  young  animals  acclimated,  the  increase  of 
weight  at  eighty  centimes  per  kilogramme  (7  cents  per  lb.)  will 
pay  upon  an  average  about  20  francs  per  thousand  kilogram- 
mes of  preserved  maize  (about  $3.50  per  ton).  I  consider  this 
price  as  so  nearly  regular  that  I  adopt  it  as  a  point  of  departure 
when  I  wish  to  reckon  up  my  farming  operations. 

Fattening  by  means  of  preserved  maize,  with  an  addition 
of  cake  of  arachide  (earth-nuts J  has  given  me  excellent  results. 
I  have  fattened  this  winter  eight  animals  from  my  stables 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  21 

which  I  wished  to  part  with  on  account  of  old  ag-c,  steriUty, 
deformity,  under  size,  or  mischievous  disposition.  Their  value 
on  foot  before  fattening  was  55  centimes  per  kilogramme. 
Tliey  sold  for  70  centimes  per  kilogramme ;  there  was  an  in- 
crease of  weight  of  447  kilogrammes,  and  in  value  845  francs 
25  centimes.  These  animals  consumed  during  their  fattening, 
averaging  58  days,  2935  kilogrammes  of  oilcake,  costing  10 
centimes  per  kilogramme,  or  a  total  of  293  francs  50  centimes. 
The  maize  therefore  paid  me  about  45  francs  per  1,000  kilo- 
grammes, which  is  indeed  a  high  price,  better  than  one  could 
obtain  either  by  milk,  the  increase  of  young  animals,  or  other 
products  of  the  stables.  Preserved  maize  has  also  the  merit 
of  exciting  to  its  highest  point  the  appetite  for  oilcake,  which 
is  at  first  repugnant,  especially  at  the  commencement,  if  it  is 
fed  alone,  without  being  mixed  with  maize,  which  has  so  much 
attraction  for  them.  A  third  experience,  viz.,  the  nutritive  value 
of  maize  in  view  of  the  raising  of  sucking  calves,  resulted  in 
paying  me  40  francs  per  1,000  kilogrammes  of  maize. 

Numerous  experiments  will  be  necessary  in  order  to  set- 
tle these  questions.  I  have  wished  simply  to  indicate  them 
and  to  put  them  in  some  sort  of  order  before  recommencing 
them.  The  advantages  that  I  have  enumerated  are  not  the 
only  ones  that  belong  to  this  culture.  These  plants  have  large 
and  numerous  leaves  which  exercise  a  happy  influence  upon 
the  health  of  the  country  where  they  are  cultivated. 

They  absorb  miasms  which  arise  from  the  earth  at  the 
critical  moment  in  certain  countries  where  the  crops  of  grain 
and  fodder  have  just  been  removed.  The  maize  in  full  vege- 
tation at  that^  moment  replaces,  as  an  absorbent,  the  other  vege- 
tation. Planted  in  gardens  near  habitations  they  pla^  at  first 
a  hygienic  role  ;  then  gathered  and  dried,  if  need  be  near  the 
hearth,  and  the  stalks  cut  in  pieces  of  eight  to  ten  centimetres 
long,  placed  in  a  close  vessel  filled  with  warm  water,  they 
quickly  produce  an  agreeable  drink  much  appreciated  by  work- 
ingmen. 


22  CULTUKE  AND  KNSILAGK  OF  MAIZE. 

IX. 
THE  PRICKLY  COMFREY  OF  THE  CAUCASUS. 

Mr.  Cheisti  has  sent  me  from  London  this  winter  three 
hundi-ed  stalks  of  this  plant,  in  which  the  ag-ricultural  world 
begins  to  take  an  interest.  They  were  planted  in  April,  in  a 
field  prepared  to  receive  the  maize,  npon  large  ridges,  spaced 
one  metre ;  the  distance  between  each  plant  was  also  a  metre 
upon  the  ridge.  Thus  each  plant  occupies  one  square  metre, 
and  the  hectare  would  contain  ten  thousand. 

The  soil  is  excellent.  It  is  situated  in  my  valley,  and  is 
surrounded  by  ditches  in  which  I  can  keep  water  at  the  height 
which  I  judge  necessary  in  order  to  insurij  suitable  moisture. 
I  have  already  (August,  1877)  cut  this  forage  twice,  and 
probably  shall  cut  it  twice  more  before  the  end  of  the  season. 
The  yield  increases  at  ejich  cutting,  owing  to  the  development 
of  the  plants.  Without  being  able  to  giA'e  yet  the  precise 
figures,  I  believe  that  the  total  yield  will  b(^  in  Aveight  very 
httle  less  than  that  of  maize.  My  plants  will  not  attain  their 
fullest  development  till  next  year,  when  the  yield  will  exceed 
all  the  other  forage  crops  which  are  cut  successively.  My 
animals  eat  it  without  avidity,  but  without  repugnance.  I 
will  mix  it  with  my  maize  at  the  time  of  ensilage,  and  I  hope 
to  obtain  some  good  results.  The  comfrey  seems  to  exceed 
the  maize  in  nitrogenous  substance,  and  the  maize  will  aid 
the  comfrey  by  its  great  richness  in  certain  ver)'^  useful  prin- 
cii)les  which  are  much  desired  by  animals.  Maize  contains 
only  on  an  average  1.20  to  1.25  per  cent,  of  nitrogenous  mat- 
ter, while  recent  analyses  attribute  to  the  comfrey  2.70  per 
cent. — that  is,  more  than  double.  These  two  plants,  instead  of 
concurring,  complete  each  other,  to  the  gi-eat  advantage  of 
agi'i  culture. 

The  comfrey,  by  its  manner  of  growtli  and  of  successive 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  23 

croppiDg",  ^^'hich  commences  with  the  spring-  and  only  finishes 
with  the  autmnn,  seems  to  me  especially  called  for  in  aid  of 
small  farming.  This  will  accommodate  itself  better  than  large 
farming  to  the  frequent  attentions  that  the  comfrey  requires, 
and  of  the  time  relatively  considerable  that  this  crop  demands 
from  day  to  day. 


X. 

PROCESSES  BY  WHICH  I  HAVE  .SUCCEEDED  IIS  ASSURING 
THE  PRESERVATION  OF  GREEX  MAIZE  FOR  AN  INDE- 
FINITE TIME. 

The  end  to  be  attained  is  to  prevent  all  kinds  of  fermen- 
tation before  and  after  ensilage ;  for  the  wa}'  to  avoid  bad  fer- 
mentation is  to  not  permit  any.  It  is  by  not  having  disco^'er- 
ed  sooner  this  fundamental  principle  that  so  many  seekers  like 
myself  have  lost  so  many  years  in  baiTcn  experiences.  We 
wished  to  preserve  maize  by  fermentation ;  that  is  to  say,  we 
turned  our  backs  on  the  solution  of  the  problem.  Fermenta- 
tion preserves  nothing.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  always  a  j^re- 
liminary  step  towards  a  decomposition  more  or  less  putrid, 
towards  a  real  destruction.  I  have  had  this  experience;  a 
thousand  times  :  when  my  maize  had  contracted  in  my  im])er- 
fect  silos  alcoholic  fermentation,  I  hastened  to  have  it  eaten  up 
as  soon  as  possible  rather  than  to  see  it  pass  to  acetic  fermen- 
tation, and  soon  after  to  lactic  or  putrid  fermentation.  These 
experiences,  so  often  repeated  and  always  fruitless,  had  finally 
discouraged  me.  For  a  long  time  I  had  resigned  myself  to 
only  require  from  my  silos  a  temporary  preservation  of  a  few 
weeks  at  the  most ;  that  is  to  say,  the  time  that  lapsed  be- 
tween the  ensilage  and  the  appearance  of  putrid  fermentation. 
I  had,  however,  from  that  time,  at  my  disposal  all  the  elements 


24  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

of  a  complete  success.  In  1853  I  had  established  at  Burtin  a 
complete  factory  for  preserving — a  powerful  feed-cutter  from 
England,  which  has  admirabl}'  performed  for  me,  for  more  than 
twenty  years ;  a  hydraulic  power,  eight-horse,  to  work  the  feed- 
cutter  ;  then  at  two  steps  from  the  feed-cutter,  fom-  silos,  hol- 
lo^^'e(l  in  the  ground,  plastered  with  Portland  cement,  and  per- 
fectly water-tight  I  cut  at  that  time  my  maize  in  pieces  of 
three  to  four  centimetres  long;  I  mixed  a  certain  proportion 
of  short  straw  (always  too  much),  and  I  filled  successively 
my  silos  by  pressing  down  the  layers  of  the  mixture  by  one, 
and  sometimes  several  persons  treading  upon  it.  After  this 
pressing  down  with  great  pains,  I  placed  on  the  top  a  layer  of 
short  straw  about  ten  centimetres  long,  and  above  all  a  layer 
of  loam,  beaten  with  care,  in  order  to  prevent  all  contact  be- 
tween the  ensilaofed  maize  and  the  air  outside.  During"  the 
following  days  I  stopped  up  the  fissm*es  which  appeared  on 
the  surface.  When  I  proceeded,  several  weeks  later,  to  open 
the  silo,  I  found  invariably  a  vacuum  of  several  centimetres 
between  the  maize  and  the  superincumbent  clay.  Notwith- 
standing the  force  of  the  compression  that  was  produced  during 
the  ensilage,  the  maize  had  undergone  another  settling,  and  its 
upper  part  presented  an  alteration  which  would  communicate 
rapidly  to  the  lower  layers.  In  order  to  avoid  this  result  I 
had  no  other  means  than  to  feed  it  out  as  quickly  as  |)ossible. 
Later  I  abandoned  the  clay  as  a  covering  for  my  silos.  Imme- 
diately after  having  ])ressed  in  my  mixtm-e  of  cut  maize  and 
straw,  I  applied  above  all  a  covering  of  plank  fitting  exactly 
the  opening  of  the  silo,  and  descending  with  the  maize  as  it 
shnuik  down.  Tliis  simple  change  produced  a  perceptible 
amendment,  but  it  was  quite  insufficient  still.  The  alteration 
was  but  little  retarded,  but  I  was  on  the  right  track.  To-day 
I  still  use  the  same  silos,  and  I  obtain  a  preservation  indefinite 
and  c-omplete.  In  what  then  liave  I  modified  my  processes  ? 
Instead  of  cutting  my  maize  in  pieces  of  three  or  fom-  centi- 
metres in  length,  I  cut  them  one   centimetre  only.    Instead  of 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  25 

mixing  a  quarter  and  sometimes  a  third  in  weight  of  short 
straw,  I  never  exceed  the  proportion  of  one-tenth,  and  oftener 
I  bury  the  maize  without  any  mixture.  Finally,  and  here  is 
the  principal  difference :  I  pile  on  the  cover  of  my  silo  when 
it  is  hlled,  foiu-  or  five  hundi*ed  kilogrammes  of  stones  or  blocks 
of  wood  per  square  metre  of  surface.  By  my  first  processes  I 
obtained  oidy  a  temporary  and  incomplete  preservation ;  with 
my  last  I  obtained  a  preservation  indefinite  and  absolute. 
How  have  these  three  simple  modifications  led  to  such  mar- 
vellous results"?  To  explain  this  will  be  the  object  of  tlie  fol- 
lowing chapters. 


XI. 

HOW  THE   MAIZE   SHOULD   BE   CUT. 

Agriculture  does  not  generally  appreciate  at  its  full  value 
the  advantages  that  can  be  derived  from  the  cutting  of  fodder 
as  affecting  the  nourishment  of  cattle.  Even  besides  the  pre- 
paration for  ensilage,  these  advantages  are  considerable.  The 
feed-cutter  with  its  cutting-knives  and  the  fluted  cylinders 
which  precede  them,  and  which  act  in  some  sort  as  molars, 
work  certainly  better  and  more  economicall}^  than  the  jaws  of 
oiu'  animals,  especially  when  it  is  moved  by  water,  by  steam, 
or  by  horse-power.  (I  do  not  speak  of  the  arms  of  men,  which 
have  become  too  scarce,  and  therefore  too  dear  for  that  ser- 
vice.) The  labor  of  mastication  is  an  expenditure  of  force 
which  the  animal  does  not  perform  gratuitously.  I  leave  to 
our  skillful  professors  of  mechanics  the  care  of  determining 
scientifically  the  effort  that  animals  make  in  grinding  the  dif- 
ferent food  that  is  presented,  and  which  ])roportionately 
requires  an  addition  to  its  ration  in  order  to  represent  that  ex- 


26  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

penditure.  I  have  seen  in  former  times  in  iny  stables,  when 
1  caused  my  beasts  to  eat  maize  uncut,  that  they  were  fatigued 
by  their  incessant  efforts  to  tear  to  pieces  the  large  stalks,  and 
were  so  exhausted  as  to  fail  to  profit  as  they  have  done  since 
by  this  excellent  food  when  presented  in  a  form  more  favora- 
ble for  its  absorption.  Imagine  two  men  obliged  to  support 
themselves,  one  upon  the  wheat  in  grain,  and  the  other  upon 
the  same  quantity  reduced  to  flour.  You  may  be  siu'e  that 
these  two  men  would  not  profit  equally  from  their  respective 
food,  which,  however,  is  chemically  the  same.  The  same 
maize  produces  food  verj  different  in  its  effect,  according  to 
whether  it  has  been  only  cut,  or  cut  and  softened  by  the  com- 
mencement of  fermentation,  or  offered  to  the  animals  in  whole 
stalks  more  or  less  di'y.  The  fineness  to  which  I  cut  my 
maize  at  the  moment  of  ensilation  is  extremely  important  in 
vicAv  of  good  ])i'eservation.  Cut  in  disks  of  onl)'  one  centime- 
tre thick,  the  maize  packs  better  in  the  silo,  it  occupies  less 
space,  and  takes  the  form  and  consistenc}'  of  a  species  of  pulp, 
leaving  in  its  mass  the  least  possible  amount  of  air.  In  pro- 
portion as  the  length  is  increased,  the  preservation  becomes 
less  perfect,  and,  finishes  by  being  entirely  defective.  Last 
year  a  cultivator  of  the  valley  of  the  Loire,  took  from  me  the 
dimensions  of  my  elliptic  silo,  and  reproduced  it  exactly  on  his 
own  farm.  He  filled  it  in  the  autumn,  and  when  he  opened  it 
during  the  winter,  he  took  out  a  poorly  preserved  product, 
which  his  beasts  only  eat  with  repugnance.  Greatly  disajD- 
pointed,  he  brought  to  me  a  sample  of  his  maize  that  he  had 
cut  in  lengths  of  five  to  six  centimetres,  instead  of  one  or  two 
at  most,  as  I  had  advised  him.  I  recognized  at  once  the  cause 
of  his  failure,  and  asked  him  why,  contrary  to  my  advice,  he 
had  cut  it  so  long.  He  replied,  "  I  was  not  able  to  procure  a 
steam  engine  which  I  expected  to  use,  and  I  had  to  use  a 
h(jrse-power ;  the  work  did  not  get  along  fast  enough,  and  in 
order  to  hasten  it,  I  decided  to  cut  it  in  such  long  i)ieces."  He 
was  surprised  at  the  excellent  preservation   of  the  maize  at 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  27 

Burtin,  and  he  canned  home  a  liimdred  kilogrammes ;  his  cat- 
tle were  thus  enabled  to  appreciate  the  difference.  I  cite  this 
fact  because  it  contains  a  valuable  lesson. 


XII. 

PKOPEK  PROPOKTION  OF  STKAW. 

At  the  beginning  of  my  ensilages  I  liad  as  principal 
resource  for  the  sustenance  of  my  stock  a  great  quan- 
tity of  wheat,  oat,  and  rye  straw,  etc.  In  order  to  induce 
my  cattle  to  eat  it,  I  mixed  all  that  I  could  with  my  maize  and 
my  green  cut  rye,  but  I  was  not  slow  to  notice  that  this  mixture 
kept  much  less  time  as  the  proportion  of  straw  Avas  greater. 
A  fiftieth  in  volume,  or  a  tenth  in  weight,  Avas  the  maximum 
of  Avhat  the  maize  could  carr^^  without  being  exposed  to  an 
early  alteration  ;  when  I  increased  this  quantit}^,  the  time  that 
it  kept  alwa)'s  diminished,  and  at  last  did  not  exceed  forty- 
eight  hours.  I  attribute  this  to  the  fact  that  the  straw,  being 
very  dr}-,  absorbs  from  the  maize  too  much  of  its  Avater.  The 
moist  condition  of  the  ensilages,  instead  of  being  a  cause 
of  deterioration,  is,  on  the  contrary,  to  a  certain  extent,  indis- 
pensable to  the  good  preservation  of  the  whole  matter. 

Maize  in  its  normal  condition  contains  about  eighty-five 
per  cent,  of  Avater ;  when  the  addition  of  dry  straAv  has  caused 
the  mixture  to  decline  to  an  average  holding  less  than  sev- 
enty-fiA^e  per  cent,  the  good  preservation  is  nmch  compro- 
mised, and  quickly  becomes  impossible  if  we  try  to  go  beloAv 
it.  Besides  the  too  great  dehydratation  that  the  presence  of 
the  straAv  may  cause,  it  also  offers  another  serious  inconven- 
ience, especially  rye  straAv.  This  straw  Avhen  cut  forms  a 
great  quantity  of  little  tubes,  the  envelopes  of  which  resist  de- 
composition for  a  long  time ;  these  tubes  inclose  an  apprecia- 


28  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

ble  quantity  of  air,  whicli  is  the  most  dangerous  enemy  of 
ensilage.  Oat  straw,  or  others  of  softer  texture,  are  less  dan- 
gerous in  this  respect  than  rye  straw.  While  I  used  at  first 
the  short  straw  from  my  threshing,  always  troublesome  on  ac- 
count of  the  amount  of  room  that  it  occupies,  henceforth  I^ 
shall  bury  my  fodder  almost  without  any  mixture.  Some- 
times, however,  it  is  well  to  mix  short  straw  with  maize  with- 
out passing  suitable  limits.  Such  a  case  presented  itself  at 
Burtin,  in  the  autumn  of  1876.  When  maize  has  been  cut  be- 
fore the  frost,  and  arrives  in  good  condition  to  the  cutting- 
machine  and  then  to  the  silo,  it  does  not  yield  its  water  easily, 
even  when  it  is  submitted  to  a  considerable  pressure.  But  it 
is  not  the  same  when  this  fodder  is  too  old,  and  has  been  ex- 
posed to  the  rains  and  frosts  at  the  end  of  autumn. 

On  one  occasion,  in  October,  1876,  I  found,  for  lack  of 
sufficient  silos,  that  it  was  impossible  to  bury  all  my  crop  of 
maize.  1  was  obliged  to  improvise  a  new  silo,  in  an  old  build- 
ing, in  order  to  place  the  surplus,  and  this  ensilage  was  not 
completed  until  the  first  days  of  December. 

The  stalks,  touched  by  frost,  had  become  very  soft  and 
weak.  The  cutting  was  difficult,  but,  most  unfortunate  of  all, 
the  layer  of  cut  maize  had  scarcely  attained  in  the  silo  two 
metres  of  thickness,  when,  by  reason  of  the  pressure  upon  the 
first  layer,  the  juice  began  to  run  out  freely  through  the  open- 
ing, and  this  discharge  continued  for  severa^days.  This  was 
a  serious  loss,  whicli  I  could  have  avoided  by  mixing  some 
cut  straw  with  the  overripe  maize.  Except  in  tliis  case,  my 
maize  has  never  lost  in  this  way  any  of  its  water  ;  at  the  dis- 
interment the  bottoms  of  my  silos  have  always  been  found 
nearly  dry,  barely  moist. 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  29 

XIII. 
COMPRESSION  OF  THE  SILOS. 

It  is  indispensable  to  superimpose  four  or  five  hundred 
kilogrammes  per  square  metre  of  heavy  materials  upon  the  cover- 
ing- or  movable  planks  of  the  filled  silos.  1  meet  here  the  most 
important  question — that  which  I  have  had  the  most  trouble 
to  solve,  and  Avhicli  I  have  only  really  solved  quite  recently. 
When  a  silo  has  been  filled,  it  does  not  answer  only  to  prevent 
the  external  air  from  penetrating  it;  it  is  necessary  at  once  to 
seek  means  for  expelling  the  mass  of  air  that  it  incloses  be- 
tween its  disks  and  in  its  cells.  It  is  liere  that  tlie  heavy  ma- 
terials with  which  I  load  my  silos  become  important ;  it  is 
necessary  that  the  air  inclosed  in  the  silo  should  find  between 
the  joints  of  the  covering  planks  an  outlet ;  it  is  necessary  that 
a  strong  compression  should  compel  this  air  to  pass  out  quick- 
ly and  to  quit  the  place  where  it  would  cause  most  serious 
damage  if  it  remained.  It  is  necessary  that  this  powerful 
compression  should  continue  during  several  months,  because 
the  tramping  of  the  workmen  is  insufiicient,  for  the  following 
reasons :  At  the  moment  when  the  green  maize  is  cut,  it  is  all 
alive,  and  is  so  elastic  that  it  reacts  forcibly  against  the  mo- 
mentary pressure  of  the  feet  of  the  workmen.  It  is  not  the 
same  several  days  or  weeks  thereafter,  but  its  elasticity  dimin- 
ishes, or,  in  other  words,  its  compressibility  increases  in  con- 
siderable proportions ;  it  is  then  that  the  heavy  superimposed 
materials  follow  the  maize  down  in  its  softened  condition,  con- 
tinuing to  press  it  in  proportion  as  its  compactness  increases, 
and  brings  it  to  that  state  of  density  that  is  necessary  in  order 
to  put  it  out  of  reach  of  all  alteration. 


30  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  lyiAIZE. 


XIV. 

THE  PROPER  HYDROMETRIG  CONDITION  OF  MAIZE  AT  THE 
TIME  OF  ENSILAGE. 

A  FAULT  which  I  often  committed  at  the  commencement 
of  my  experiments,  was  to  leave  my  maize  upon  the  field  in 
order  that  it  might  undergo  a  partial  desiccation  before  the 
ensilage.  This  is  to  be  avoided  absolutely.  When  the  water 
evaporates  from  the  cells  of  the  maize,  it  is  immediately  re- 
placed by  air;  that  is  to  say,  by  the  most  active  agent  in  all 
alteration.  Let  the  maize  keep  all  its  water,  if  you  Avisli  to 
preserve  it  by  ensilage. 

All  the  directions  which  I  have  laid  down  as  proper  for  the 
ensilage  of  maize,  apply  to  all  other  fodder  without  dis- 
tinction, and  insure  the  same  success.  If  I  speak  more  pai'- 
ticularly  of  maize,  it  is  because  I  have  found  in  that  wonder- 
ful plant  all  the  elements  of  a  new  and  boundless  agricultural 
wealth,  from  the  da}'  when  I  arrived  at  the  assurance  of  its  in- 
definite preservation  by  ensilage  for  the  nom'ishment  of  my 
cattle  throughout  the  Avhole  year.  Before  this  time  it  had 
hardly  nourished  them  during  three  months,  while  it  was  pos- 
sibh*  to  fped  it  t<»  tliem  aTeeii. 


XV. 

EFFECTS  OF  ENSILAGE  UPON  FODDER. 

^Iy  maize,  my  green  rye,  my  fodder  of  all  kinds,  have 
scarcely  changed  color,  after  eight  or  ten  months  of  ensilage ; 
fed  exclusively  to  m)-  animals,  they  ]iroduce  exactly  the  same 
effects,  tlie  same  abundance  of  milk  and  butter,  the  same  flavor, 
an<l  the  same  color  to  tlie  butter.  These  qualities,  so  imi)ortant  to 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  31 

butter  preserved  through  the  winter  by  the  ensilage,  are  in  my 
eyes  the  true  touchstone,  when  we  seek  to  appreciate  the  re- 
spectixe  merits  of  the  different  processes  of  preservation  of  fod- 
der. Let  a  farmer  show  me  the  butter  that  his  ensilage  g-ives  him 
during  the  winter,  and  I  Avill  have  no  need  of  other  means  of 
investigation  in  order  to  arrive  at  his  skill.  "  A  workman  is 
knowii  by  his  work." 

I  opened  in  April,  1877,  my  last  eUiptic  silo,  which  con- 
tained nearly  100,000  kilogrammes  of  maize,  ensilaged  in  Octo- 
ber, 187G,  more  than  seven  months.  It  disclosed  a  very  compact 
mass  of  a  broxvnish  green  color ;  the  temperature-did  not  exceed 
10  degi'ees  (Reamur)  ;  there  was  no  appreciable  odor;  taken 
in  the  mouth  it  was  really  insipid,  and  this  freedom  from  odor 
and  taste  produced  at  first  an  almost  disagreeable  sensation. 

I  detached  from  the  mass  several  huncb-ed  kilogrammes, 
intended  for  the  next  feeding  of  my  animals.  It  was  hardly 
exposed  to  the  air  when  it  underwent  a  veritable  change :  the 
brownish  color  became  sensibly  green,  the  beginning  of  alco- 
holic fermentation  took  place,  without  exceeding  the  limits 
which  that  fermentation  ought  never  to  pass.  That  silo  was 
not  completely  exhausted  until  the  10th  of  August,  and  the 
maize  remained  in  good  condition  until  the  last  day.  My 
forty-days  maize  reached  at  that  time  the  point  where  it  was 
suitable  to  be  cut  for  fodder ;  it  had  attained  its  full  heiglit, 
and  in  the  month  of  August  my  animals  eat  it  green ;  they 
were  only  ten  days  without  maize  during  the  year  1877. 

My  silos  of  rye  will  be  consumed  dm-ing  the  winter.  I  do 
not  need  to  say  that  green  rye  is  much  richer  than  maize,  and 
a  much  smaller  quantity  will  go  as  far  ;  the  mixture  of  these 
two  kinds  of  fodder  is  an  excellent  diet. 

My  animals,  fed  upon  maize  ensilage  during  the  whole 
winter,  scarcely  di-ink  when  they  are  loosened  in  the  middle 
of  da}'  to  quench  their  thirst  at  the  river  which  crosses  mv 
farm  ;  nearly  all  return  to  the  stable  without  having  approached 
it. 


32  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  ]\[AIZE. 

Their  excrements,  of  mediuni  consistency,  denote  a  very 
favorable  pathological  condition.  We  must  conclude  that 
maize  ensilage  in  the  matter  of  retaining  water  is  a  well  bal- 
anced food,  since  it  furnishes  to  animals,  in  most  suitable  pro- 
portion, food  and  drink.  Each  one  of  my  ensilages  may  be 
regarded  as  an  immense  cylinder,  and  its  covering  of  plank,  a 
gigantic  piston,  whose  surface  exceeds  iifty  square  metres  ;  the 
heavy  substances  which  I  superimpose  act  as  a  motive  power, 
causing  the  piston  to  descend  and  compress  the  ensilage, 
leaving  between  the  planks  an  outlet  for  the  air,  which  the 
compression  is  intended  to  drive  out  My  large  operations  I 
have  frequently  repeated  in  a  small  way,  with  a  glass  jar  27 
centimetres  in  diameter  and  50  centimetres  in  height;  a  wooden 
disk,  sm-mounted  with  a  faucet,  furnished  with  a  rubber  tube, 
acts  as  a  piston  ;  I  load  it  with  a  certain  ascertained  weight  in 
order  to  compress  the  matter  in  the  jar  ;  a  second  faucet  is  put 
m  the  bottom,  Avhen  the  pressure  commences  to  lower  the  pis- 
ton. The  air  in  the  ensilage  escapes  by  the  two  faucets,  and  I 
easily  ascertain  the  quantit)'.  In  the  beginning  the  faucets 
give  out  pure  air,  the  volume  of  which  is  exactly  equal  to  that 
the  mass  has  lost ;  afterward,  if  the  compression  has  been  in- 
sufficient and  has  left  a  certain  amount  of  air  in  the  mass,  it  is 
no  longer  pure  air  Avhich  comes  out  when  I  open  the  faucets ; 
there  have  been  some  very  interesting  modifications  produced 
in  the  mass,  interesting  to  follow  and  well  worth  the  study 
of  the  chemist. 

"But,"  as  has  been  kindly  said  to  me,  "  you  are  making  sour- 
krout ;  that  was  made  long  before  you  did  it."  If  I  am  making 
sour-krout,  or  anything  resembling  it,  I  make  it  without  cab- 
bage and  without  pickle,  with  different  kinds  of  fodder,  and 
my  sour-krout  cost  but  J  centime  a  kilogi'amme ;  it  is  sour- 
krout  for  a,nimals,  who  show  themselves  very  gi*ateful  for  it. 
This  sour-krout  is  a  complete  agricultural  revolution. 


OULTUllE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  IMAIZE.  33 

XVI. 

HOW  TO  BUILD  A  SILO. 

With  my  new  stables  at  Burtin  finished,  I  shall  be  able 
to  house  one  hundred  horned  cattle.  My  ensilages  of  1877 
only  pei-mit  nie  to  feed  seventy,  but  Avith  those  of  1878  I 
expect  to  be  able  t(^  feed  one  liundi-ed.  I  have  just  finished 
three  united  silos,  which  fomi  a  part  of  the  plan  of  my  new 
stable. 

The  form  of  the  silo  exercises  a  great  influence  upon  the 
results.  It  should  avoid  all  angles,  and  should  offer  the  least 
possible  resistance  to  the  packing  down  of  the  ensilage.  The 
elliptic  silo  with  vertical  walls  is  the  best  form  both  for  use 
and  for  durability.  It  is  important  to  have  them  as  large  as 
possible  compatible  with  the  conditions  of  easy  and  economi- 
cal use.  The  preservation  of  the  ensilage  in  small  silos  is 
always  less  perfect  than  in  large  ones.  No  matter  how  much 
care  is  used  and  how  much  weight  is  applied,  I  have  always 
found  the  portion  which  is  farthest  from  the  walls  to  be  the 
best  preserved,  and  that  close  to  the  walls  there  is  always 
some  alteration,  not  serious,  but  which  it  is  important  to  re- 
duce as  much  as  possible.  Small  receptacles  offer  proportion- 
ally much  more  surface  for  contact.  A  rectangular  silo,  for 
exam^Dle,  of  one  metre  each  way,  containing  one  cubic  metre, 
presents  five  square  metres  of  contact  surface,  while  one  of 
ten  cubic  metres,  with  1,000  cubic  metres  of  contents,  presents 
only  500  square  metres  of  contact  surface,  diminishing  nine- 
tenths  the  evil  indicated.  But  I  do  not  advise  silos  of  such 
dimensions  as  this.  At  the  commencement  of  my  experiments 
I  recommended  small  silos,  in  order  that  when  opened  they 
might  be  quickly  consumed  before  they  became  a  prey  to  the 
slow  combustion  which  the  contact  with  the  air  produced, 
with  as  small  an  entrance  as  possible  for  the  air,  of  which  the 
first  effect  was  to  raise  the  temperature,  and  then  produce  fer- 


34  CULTURE  AXD  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

mentation,  fii-st  alcoholic,  next  acetic,  and  then  putrid.  But 
the  day  that  I  discovered  the  new  process  of  a  movable 
weighted  covering,  so  that  I  was  able  to  maintain  in  the  mass 
a  continuous  density  whereby  the  penetration  of  the  air  be- 
came impossible,  I  abandoned  the  small  silos.  Since  then  I 
have  made  them  as  large  as  possible,  and  they  are  only  lim- 
ited by  tlie  economy  of  the  different  operations  of  ensilage. 


XYII. 

HOW  TO  FILL  A  SILO. 


It  is  necessary  to  procure,  either  by  purchase  or  rental,  a 
motive  power  and  a  powerful  feed-cutter.  Large  famis  are 
generally  provided  T\dth  these  machines,  but  the  average 
farmer  will  have  to  hire.  It  may  be  that  the  travelling  con- 
tractors for  threshing  Avill  l)ecome  contractors  for  cutting  maize 
for  ensilage,  with  a  machine  that  possesses  sufficient  Aveight  to 
be  sohd,  and  is  also  portable.  Filling  the  silo  should  be  done 
as  rapidly  as  possible,  and  the  layer  of  maize  should  be  kept 
level  all  the  time.  The  greater  the  compression  the  better 
will  be  the  preservation.  The  packing  along  the  walls  (which 
should  be  as  smooth  as  possible)  should  be  attended  to  care- 
fully. A  woman  turning  continually  as  near  as  possible  to 
the  walls  will  accomplish  this  very  well. 

When  the  silo  is  filled  to  the  top  and  carefully  leveled, 
spread  along  the  surface  short  straw  four  or  five  centimetres 
thick,  then  place  on  top  of  this  boards  fitting  close  to- 
gether. These  should  be  put  across  the  silo  in  order  that 
when  it  is  being  fed  out  they  ma}^  be  taken  off  one  by  one,  as 
the  silo  is  cut  down  vertically.  Upon  this  flooring  there  should 
be  piled  abundance  of  weight,  such  as  stones,  bricks,  logs  of 
wood,  or  old  bags  filled  with  dirt,  etc.    At  Burtin  I  have  aban- 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE  35 

doned  iisino-  loose  eartli  as  a  means  of  compression,  as  it  infil- 
trates into  the  ensilage,  and  adhering-  to  the  walls  a  vacuum 
forms  as  the  maize  settles  away,  which  is  destructive. 

Note. — The  translator  lost  his  first  investment  in  ensilage  by  depending  upon 
earth  covering,  which  arched  by  freezing  and  left  a  vacuum. 


A  filled  Silo  being  emptied  by  vortical  slicing. 


Any  ridge  on  the  silos  is  objectionable,  as  the  ensilage 
cannot  be  sufficiently  compressed,  and  the  dry  rot  soon  at- 
tacks it  and  communicates  to  the  material  below. 

As  to  using-  salt  in  the  silos,  it  is  not  very  important,  and 
I  often  omit  it  without  any  bad  result ;  but  I  believe  the  mod- 
erate use  of  salt  is  favorable  to  the  health  of  animals,  and  I 
sometimes  mix  in  my  ensilage  one  kilogramme  to  a  cubic 
metre  of  maize,  the  average  weight  of  which,  after  being 
packed,  is  812  kilogrammes. 

When  the  ensilage  is  fed  out  it  sliould  be  exposed  to  the 
air  fifteen  or  twenty  hours,  in  order  that  the  alcoholic  fermen- 
tation may  commence.  The  proper  time  dei)ends  upon  the 
temperature,  but  if  kept  longer  than  this,  the  fermentation  be- 
comes excessive  and  injurious.  The  spontaneous  heat  which 
is  produced  in  the  feed  should  never  exceed  35  or  40  degrees 
(R.).  Two  years  ago  I  had  no  silos  at  my  farm  at  Gouillon, 
and  I  earned  every  other  day  from  Burtin  wdiat  was  neces- 
sary. From  the  second  da}^  the  heat  exceeded  these  limits, 
and  the  alcoholic  vapor  abundantly  emitted  indicated  the  seri- 


36  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

ous  loss  that  was  going  on.  The  acetic  acid  was  not  slow  to 
join  the  party.  In  the  north,  the  beet  pulp  that  is  fed  in  win- 
ter is  nearly  always  quite  sour ;  it  is  to  this  circumstance  that 
I  attribute  the  poor  quality  of  milk  and  butter  obtained  from 
the  animals  kept  on  this  food. 


XVIII. 

THE  NEW  STABLES  AT  BURTIN,  AND  THEIR  SILOS. 

My  new  stables  are  a  square  of  twenty-four  metres  on 
each  side,  divided  into  two  compartments,  each  of  which  has  a 
central  passage  between  two  rows  of  stalls.  These  passages 
are  connected  with  the  silos  by  a  small  railway,  which  makes 
it  convenient  to  bring  the  feed  before  each  animal.  The  maize 
and  the  other  ensilaged  fodder  is  carried  in  willow  baskets  all 
of  the  same  size,  which  are  frequently  weighed  in  order  to  keep 
account  of  the  weight  of  the  rations  given  to  each  lot  of  cattle. 
My  silos  are  elliptic  in  form,  with  perpendicular  walls  as 
smooth  as  possible  inside,  five  metres  wide  and  the  same 
height.  Should  I  modify  them  in  any  way  in  future  it  will  be 
only  to  increase  the  height. 

My  farm  at  Burtin  presents  exceptional  difficulties  for 
building  silos.  Everywhere  the  water  is  met  at  one  metre  below 
the  surface,  and  as  I  want  to  sink  my  silos  nearly J:wojnetres, 
because  the  part  below  the  ground  preserves  in  summer  more 
moisture  than  that  part  above  the  ground,  I  am  obliged  to  first 
dig  a  ditch  lower  tlian  the  excavation  all  around  it,  and 
then  to  cement  the  lower  part,  which  causes  a  considerable 
expense.  I  put  concrete  on  the  bottom,  and  upon  this  I 
build  the  vertical  walls  of  the  thickness  of  two  bricks  (4Il 
centimetres)  to  the  top  of  the  ground.  Above  the  ground  I 
reduce  the  thickness  to  one  brick  and  a  half  (about  34  centi- 


OULTUKE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 


37 


metres.)  I  coat  the  walls  with  Portland  cement  sufficient  to 
insure  their  perfect  impermeability.  My  triple  silos  have  cost 
me  4176  francs,  and  their  total  capacity  812.45  cubic  metres, 
about  5  francs  14  centimes  per  cubic  metre.  I  intend  next 
A'ear  to  raise  the  walls  of  my  silos  another  metre,  so  that  their 
capacity  will  be  about  a  thousand  cubic  metres.  I  postpone 
till  that  time  my  decision  as  to  a  special  cover  for  them. 


Plan  of  united  Silos. 


Most  agriculturists  are  more  favored  in  the  profile  of  their 
soil ;  many  of  them  have  a  hillside  in  the  neighborhood  of  their 
bam,  in  which  they  can  open  silos  that  will  always  be  dry,  and  in 
some  places  can  dispense  with  masonry  by  having  solid  rock. 
Those  who  wish  to  imitate  me  will  have  less  hesitation  when 
they  know  that  Burtin  is  a  particularly  bad  place  for  building 
silos,  and  that  they  can  obtain  the  same  results  with  much 
less  outlay. 

In  making  use  of  such  large  silos  as  these  it  is  necessary 
of  course  to  have  a  cutting-machine  with  a  six-horse  power 
engine  at  least,  and  an  elevator  to  raise  the  cut  fodder  over 


38  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

the  walls  of  the  silos.  I  estimate  that  mth  these  instruments 
one  silo  can  be  filled  in  thi-ee  days  at  most  without  difficulty. 
This  rapidity  is  necessary  in  order  to  assure  the  success  of 
ensilage.  When  the  elevator  and  cutter  are  combined  in  the 
same  machine,  the  process  will  be  simplified. 

As  to  the  average  farmer,  as  I  have  already  said,  it  will 
be  better  to  employ  the  thi-eshing-machine  contractors,  who 
will  find  it  to  their  interest  to  adapt  themselves  to  this  busi- 
ness also.  It  is  above  all  the  duty  of  the  wealthy  agriculturists 
who  have  entered  upon  the  way  that  I  have  indicated,  and 
fi-om  whom  I  receive  every  day  so  many  gi-ateful  letters, 
to  assist  the  willing  farmers  around  them,  and  who  have  need 
of  their  advice.  For  my  part,  I  shall  hold  myself  in  the  future 
as  in  the  past  always  at  the  disposal  of  farmers  who  think 
they  need  to  recm-  to  my  experience. 

I  engage  to  pay  a  prize  of  500  francs  to  the  fii'st  thresh- 
ing-machine contractor  who  will  prove  to  me  that  he  has  en- 
silaged in  this  way  at  least  2,000,000  kilogrammes  of  fodder. 


XIX. 

CONCLUSIONS. 


I  SAID  in  1873,  in  one  of  my  first  pamphlets,  "  My  pro- 
found conviction  is  that  the  culture  and  ensilage  of  maize  is 
destined  to  cause  a  complete  agricultm-al  revolution ;  it  ought 
in  ten  years  to  double  the  number  of  animals  supported  on 
our  soil."  Was  this  a  chimerical  hope?  God  has  pre- 
served me  from  all  discouragement  on  this  point.  In  the  last 
four  years  the  progress  that  I  have  made  at  Burtin  has  ex- 
ceeded all  my  hopes.  Upon  my  reserve  of  thirty-five  heci 
tares  I  have  kept  during  the  Avinter  of  1876  forty-three  horned 
cattle,  and  I  shall  keep   during  the  winter  of  1877  seventy, 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  39 

with  the  assurance  of  going-  much  beyond  this  at  tlie  end  of 
1878. 

Here  are  facts  more  conclusive  than  any  argument.  The 
great  establishment  that  I  have  iinished,  and  shall  inaugui-ate 
in  October,  1877  (to  which  T  invite  all  agriculturists),  proves 
my  firm  faith  in  my  work.  I  have  spared  no  pains  nor  ex- 
pense to  assure  solidity  in  my  buildings  in  dear  Sologne, 
which  may  be  considered  as  the  cradle  of  this  new  industry, 
and  they  represent  the  point  of  departure  of  an  immense  agri- 
cultural progress.  Perhaps  I  may,  without  too  much  pride, 
inscribe  upon  them  the  Avords  of  the  great  Latin  poet,  ^'  Exegi 
moiuinientum,  acre  perennius.^^ 


EFFECTS  OF  FROST  IN  SEPTEMBER,  1877,  AT  BURTIN. 

I  had  hardly  finished  this  little  work  when  I  was  sur- 
prised, as  Avere  all  my  confreres,  by  a  meteorological  circum- 
stance that  was  exceedingly  injurious.  A  heavy  frost  in  the 
nights  of  the  22d  and  23d  of  September  and  following,  stopped 
short  the  vegetation  of  my  maize,  which  at  the  bottom  of  my 
valley  had  the  appearance  of  having  been  burned  down  to  the 
roots.  My  maize  on  ^higher  ground  suffered  less,  but  the 
growth  is  also  stopped,  and  the  crop  will  be  much  smaller. 
When  such  a  misfortune  occurs,  the  most  effective  way  to 
lessen  it  is  to  cut  the  maize  and  proceed  with  the  ensilage  im- 
mediately. Thanks  to  the  prompt  measures  taken,  the  frost 
caused  me  little  other  damage  than  a  diminution  of  the 
crop,  according  as  it  had  more  or  less  attained  its  full  devel- 
opment. The  maximum  height  of  my  stalks  was  4.72  metres, 
and  from  that  down  to  3  metres. 


40  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

HISTORY  OF  M.  GOFF ART'S  INVENTION. 

From  his  Speech  at  Blois,  May  8,  1875. 

In  1850  I  made  some  experiments  in  the  ensilage  of 
wheat  at  Versailles,  since  which  time  the  preservation  of  fod- 
der has  become  my  favorite  occupation.  In  1852  I  constiTict- 
ed  four  underground  silos,  with  masomy,  and  cemented,  each 
having  a  capacity  of  two  cubic  metres ;  these  silos  I  have 
filled  and  emptied  several  thousand  times.  Maize,  Jerusalem 
artichokes,  beets,  sorgho,  turnips,  potatoes,  straw,  I  have  ex- 
perimented upon  with  more  or  less  success.  Straw,  in  the 
scarcity  of  fodder,  has  several  times  saved  my  stables.  Some 
years  ago  I  had  in  the  autumn  more  than  80  horned  cattle, 
and  my  hay  crop  would  not  have  permitted  me  to  support  10. 
One  should  be  an  agriculturist  of  Sologne  to  know  what  such  a 
ti'ouble  means.  In  rich  countries  when  the  hay  crop  fails,  it 
means  that  instead  of  harvesting  5,000  or  6,000  kilogrammes  to 
the  hectare,  there  are  only  3,000  or  4,000,  but  in  Sologne  it 
means  that  there  is  no  crop  at  all.  In  such  difficulties  the  en- 
terprising cultivator  must  use  more  intelligence  and  more  in- 
dustry. ''  What  the  man  is  worth,  that  the  land  is  worth,"  is 
an  old  proverb,  but  I  will  improve  upon  it  by  saying,  the  man 
should  be  worth  more,  as  the  land  is  worth  less. 

I  got  through  safely  that  year  by  having  50,000  bundles 
of  wheat,  rye,  and  oat  straw.  I  cut  them  up,  and  with  35 
kilogrammes  of  rye  flour,  which  I  fermented  each  day  in  large 
tubs,  and  in  Avhich  I  soaked  the  straw,  I  obtained  food  that 
was  softened  by  fermentation,  which  my  cattle  ate  freely  and 
digested  easily.  Thus  I  reached  the  following  spring  without 
being  obliged  to  sell  my  cattle  at  a  low  price.  I  must  ac- 
knowledge that  at  the  end  of  winter  my  beasts  were  in  a  sorry 
condition,  but  the  first  grass  quickly  restored  them,  and  I  was 
not  compelled  to  replace  them  at  a  high  price  in  the  spring ; 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  41 

and  now,  the  two  years  of  scarcity  which  my  fellow-agricultu- 
rists have  passed  through  have  been  for  me — owing  to  my 
silos — years  of  unprecedented  plenty.  What  I  have  done  can 
be  done  by  thousands  of  others,  and  my  earnest  desire,  my  sole 
ambition,  is  to  enable  them  to  imitate  me  as  soon  as  possible. 
Until  1872  I  only  expected  from  my  limited  ensilages  the 
means  of  prolonging  for  three  weeks,  or  at  most  a  month,  the 
use  of  maize,  so  desirable  a  food  for  my  cattle.  To  that  end 
I  made  many  experiments.  I  have  mixed  my  cut  maize  with 
various  proportions  of  straw,  in  order  to  find  which  would  give 
the  best  result.  I  have  made  silos  without  cover,  burying  the 
ensilage  under  bundles  of  straw,  then  with  earth  (never  sand). 
I  have  filled  my  four  silos  with  every  possible  mixture,  which 
would  sooner  have  put  me  upon  the  road  to  a  positive  success 
if  I  had  not  been  too  easily  alarmed  by  slight  alterations  on 
the  surface,  and  which  I  caused  to  extend  all  through  by  too 
frequent  examinations. 

In  1873  I  had  a  real  success,  due  mainly  to  accident ;  and 
it  is  to  be  recognized  that  chance  nearly  always  plays  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  happiest  discoveries. 

Until  this  time  I  had  hardly  believed  that  the  preservation 
of  green  maize  for  a  long  time  was  possible,  and  I  had  very 
little  confidence.  I  hesitated  a  while,  and  should  have  proba- 
bly hesitated  a  good  while  longer  if  I  had  not  been  in  a  measure 
compelled  to  do  sometliing.  The  year  1873  had  been  excep- 
tionally favorable  for  the  culture  of  maize.  At  Burtin  the  crop 
was  enormous.  After  having  fed  my  cattle  abundantly  until 
October,  besides  having  all  that  they  could  eat  while  green  till 
December,  I  found  that  I  had  more  than  170,000  kilogrammes 
that  would  be  lost  if  I  could  not  keep  it  at  least  till  the  follow- 
ing March.  I  went  resolutely  to  work,  and  I  have  described 
elsewhere  the  means  that  I  used  and  the  result  that  I  obtained. 
The  difiiculties  were  greater  than  one  would  believe,  on  account 
of  the  lack  of  faith  of  my  employees.  One  day  I  had  to  leave 
my  workmen  for  a  while,  but  my  return  was  sooner  than  they 


42  CULTURE  A^D  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

expected.  The  work  had  ceased,  of  course.  They  were  talk- 
ing together,  and  I  overheard  my  foreman  say  to  the  workmen, 
"  This  work  that  we  arc  doing  is  all  foolishness ;  M.  Goffart  had 
better  throw  his  maize  into  the  dung-heap  at  once,  because  that 
is  where  it  will  go  to  at  last. "  I  said  nothing,  but  redoubled 
my  watchfulness,  knowing  how  little  zeal  I  could  expect  from 
people  so  convinced  of  the  uselessness  of  their  labor. 

A  silo  built  upon  the  ground  gives  the  best  result  dming 
the  cold  season  from  December  to  March,  but  as  the  tempera- 
ture rises  fermentation  develops  rapidly.  The  underground 
silo  with  masonry  walls  is  better  ;  the  temperature  does  not  rise 
even  in  April,  and  at  Burtin  at  this  time  (May  8)  it  is  nearly  in 
the  same  condition  as  at  the  time  of  ensilage,  seven  months  ago. 
I  would  advise  that  the  silo  be  sunk  two  metres  in  the  ground, 
with  masonry  walls,  and  raised  two  meters  above  the  ground 
During  the  cold  weather  I  would  feed  out  the  ensilage  in  the 
upper  half,  and  reserve  for  the  warmer  months  the  lower  half 

The  experiment  of  an  underground  silo,  but  without  facing 
the  walls  with  masonry,  has  also  given  a  favorable  result,  in  the 
sense  that  the  loss  has  only  been  one  per  cent  of  the  whole,  but 
such  a  silo  soon  falls  do^vn  when  it  is  empty,  and  consequently 
is  much  inferior  to  the  former.  There  is  another  method,  the 
simplicity  of  which  is  a  dangerous  temptation  to  the  inexperi- 
enced. That  is  to  pile  the  cut  maize  upon  the  soil,  and  to  cover 
it  with  a  layer  of  earth.  I  can  assert  that  such  a  silo  has  never 
given  good  results.  The  packing  down,  which  is  essential  to 
good  preservation,  cannot  be  applied  to  such  a  silo.  Those  who 
recommend  this  method  of  ensilage  manifest  a  culpable  igno- 
rance, and  cause  great  loss  to  those  who  follow  their  advice. 
When  one  loses  half  his  capital  in  an  operation,  he  is  not  suc- 
cessful; he  makes  a  disastrous  speculation.  I  proscribe  this 
method  in  the  most  positive  manner. 

I  once  buried,  for  exi)eriment,  a  thousand  kilogrannnes  of 
corn-stalks,  uncut,  under  a  stack  of  straw,  forming  a  layer  25 
centimeti-es  thick.     In  eight  days  it  went  to  the  dung-heap. 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  43 

The  cost  of  gathering  and  ensilaging  226,000  kilogram- 
mes of  maize  has  been  as  follows : 


Francs. 

57  days  of  men,  at  2  francs 114.00 

9  days  of  women,  at  1  franc  10  centimes 9.90 

5  days  of  2  drivers  and  4  horses,  at  16  francs 80.00 

5  days  of  engine,  from  contractor,  at  10  francs 50.00 

Old  wood  for  engine,  3  francs  per  day 15.00 

Total 268.90 


Making  cost  of  1  franc  18  centimes  per  1,000  kilogrammes 
(about  20  cents  per  gross  ton).  About  40  per  cent  of  this  ex- 
pense was  for  the  cutting  and  putting  in  the  silos. 

We  should  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  crushing  of  the 
food  saved  to  the  cattle  by  the  cutting  is  in  itself  an  important 
saving  of  food. 

It  is  above  all  important  to  avoid  all  kinds  of  fermenta- 
tion during  and  after  ensilage.  Fermentation  can  be  pro- 
duced whenever  desired,  and  a  few  hours  suffice  to  give  all 
its  useful  effects.  Take  each  evening  from  your  silo  the  maize 
required  for  the  next  day's  feeding,  and  15  or  16  hours  after, 
however  cold  and  free  from  fermentation  when  taken  out,  it 
will  be  quite  warm,  and  in  full  fermentation,  and  the  animals 
will  eat  it  greedily.  Eight  hours  later  it  will  have  passed  the 
proper  limits,  and  it  will  rapidly  spoil. 

This  first  fermentation  increases  the  facility  of  digestion, 
and  therefore  the  nutritive  or  assimilative  power  of  the  food. 
For  instance,  when  cattle  live  on  fresh  maize  in  the  summer, 
they  eat  large  quantities,  and  are  always  big-bellied,  which 
shows  that  they  are  obliged  to  supply  what  is  lacking  in 
quality  by  an  excessive  consumption  ;  but  when  they  live  on 
ensilaged  maize  which  has  fermented,  their  bellies  are  smaller, 
they  eat  less,  and  their  whole  condition  is  more  satisfactory. 
To  stud)^  all  things,  to  try  all  things,  to  be  always  willing  to 
change  the  system  when   one  finds  himself  in  the  wi'ong — 


44  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

such  is  the  duty  of  the  agriculturist,  whose  lot  perhaps  is  too 
much  envied. 

For  my  part,  I  have  had  in  my  agricultural  career  some 
hard  exjjeriences. 

In  January,  1871,  when  I  returned  to  Bm-tin,  after  having 
taken  part  in  the  defence  of  Paris,  I  found  my  stables  entirely 
empty ;  the  ts-phus  had  carried  off  in  a  few  days  63  horned 
animals  out  of  64.  By  successive  increase  with  Norman  bulls, 
which  I  had  changed  every  two  years,  I  had  created  for  my- 
self a  new  and  ver}^  fine  race,  and  my  stables  were  justly  re- 
nowned in  Sologne.  In  ten  days  I  had  lost  the  fruit  of  twen- 
ty years'  labor.  The  blow  was  severe,  but  I  hardly  felt  it. 
What  was  the  loss  of  a  few  thousand  francs  compared  with  the 
gi'eat  national  grief  which  was  causing  all  our  hearts  to  bleed? 
I  began  again  my  work  with  courage.  I  bought  young  ani- 
mals to  replenish  my  stables,  which  continually  improve,  but 
I  am  aware  that  time  will  fail  me  to  replace  what  I  have  lost. 
Let  us  strive  com-ageously.  Perhaps  the  most  obscure  of  the 
pioneers  of  agriculture  brings  you  to-day  an  effective  means 
with  which  you  can  charm  away  the  dearth  of  fodder,  which  is 
one  of  the  greatest  plagues  of  agricultural  industry. 

Do  not  deny  to  this  poor  but  interesting  Sologne  the 
honor  of  having  been  the  cradle  of  a  system  of  ensilage  that  is 
effectively  preservative,  and  of  having  given  an  example  that 
the  richest  countries  will  not  be  slow  to  imitate.  This  is  my 
earnest  prayer  and  brightest  hope. 


CULTtJRE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  45 


APPENDIX 


I. 

EEPORT  TO  THE  CENTRAL  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETY  OF 
FRANCE  BY  A  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  SECTIONS  ON  LIVE 
STOCK,  PHYSICO-CHEMICAL  AND  HIGH  CULTIVATION, 
UPON  THE  SUBJECT  OF  THE  ENSILAGE  OF  GREEN 
CUT  CORN  FODDER.— SEANCE  APRIL  7,  1875. 

Your  committee  considered  that  the  question  of  the  pres- 
ervation of  a  fodder  so  productive  and  so  desirable  as  maize 
desei-A^ed  to  be  studied,  and  if  the  results  should  be  found  as 
satisfactory  as  M.  Goffart  has  announced,  it  should  be  brought 
to  the  attention  of  the  agricultm-al  public ;  therefore,  I  have 
been  directed  to  present  to  you  our  report  upon  this  important 
subject. 

All  methods  of  preservation  of  food  interest  deeply  the 
farming  community  which  produces  it,  and  the  whole  nation 
that  consumes  it.  It  tends  to  reduce  losses  by  deterioration 
and  by  waste;  it  mitigates  the  deplorable  alternations  of 
low  prices  for  crops,  which  ruin  the  agriculturists,  and  of 
high  prices,  which  weaken  every  portion  of  the  commonwealth. 
Finally,  it  insures  regular  food  to  animals  and  men,  which  in- 
creases the  energy  and  adds  to  the  productive  power  of  the 
nation.  The  preservation  of  maize  in  a  green  state  lends  a 
special  interest  to  the  value  of  that  fodder  for  milch  cows,  be- 
cause the  crop  is  so  variable^  according  to  the  season,  and  the 
time  for  consuming  it  in  the  autumn  is  so  short  if  not  pre- 
served. When  the  heat  and  moisture  of  the  season  favor  the 
A'egetation,  it  produces  such  large  crops  that  it  cannot  be  con- 


46  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

Slimed  before  the  frost  destroys  it,  while  the  dried  leaves  and 
stalks  are  of  very  little  value.  Many  agriculturists  who 
have  introduced  this  excellent  fodder  in  their  business  have 
tried  various  ways  of  preserving  for  the  winter  what  could  not 
be  consumed  in  the  autumn,  with  results  more  or  less  satisfac- 
tory, but  oftener  the  latter.  There  have  been  many  prece- 
dents of  a  nature  to  justify  tliese  efforts.  The  preservation  of 
grape  leaves  green  neai*  Lyons  for  the  food  of  cattle  and  goats 
has  made  a  high  reputation  for  the  cheese  called  Mont  Dore 
from  time  immemorial.  Apple  pomace  has  been  preserved  in 
silos  with  good  results.  In  various  parts  of  Germany  the 
preservation  of  vegetables  of  all  sorts — tm-nips,  cabbages,  and 
different  kinds  of  leaves  seasoned  with  celery  for  feeding 
cows — runs  back  as  far  in  the  night  of  time  as  that  of  sour  cab- 
bage (sauer-kraut)  for  the  food  of  men.  In  the  north  of 
France,  several  large  agriculturists  have  preserved  for  twen- 
ty years  in  silos  the  leaves  of  beets,  also  the  beets  cut  across, 
which  have  kept  better  than  the  whole  beets  in  cellars.  The 
pulp  of  beets,  from  distilleries  or  sugar  factories,  also  makes 
excellent  fodder  when  kept  in  silos.  The  world  is  so  old,  ne- 
cessity has  so  long  compelled  the  efforts  of  human  beings,  that 
we  may  find  precedents  in  every  line  of  improvement.  But 
all  experienced  men  who  know  the  great  difference  that  sepa- 
rates a  happy  suggestion,  or  even  a  successful  attempt,  from  a 
practice  well  enough  confirmed  to  become  the  base  of  a  reg- 
ular business,  will  admit  that  these  precedents  do  not  destroy 
the  merit  of  any  man  who,  like  Monsieur  A.  Goffart,  has  ac- 
complished a  continued  success.  If  the  cultivation  of  maize 
and  the  method  of  ensilage  have  given  the  results  that  he 
clamis,  and  the  samples  submitted  indicates,  he  merits  our 
eulogies. 

M.  Goffart  states  that  he  conunenced  to  experiment  with 
maize  and  ensilage  in  1852,  and  what  we  have  seen  at  Burtin 
proves  that  his  experiments  have  led  him  to  a  practical  success. 
We  have  been  very  favorably  impressed  by  the  silos  that  were 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  47 

located  in  the  old  distillery  which  had  been  used  for  the  daily 
feeding-  of  the  cows.  These  silos  were  made  by  lateral  walls 
of  two  and  a  half  metres  in  height,  without  any  excavation, 
and  the  maize  piled  upon  the  ground  as  high  as  the  floor  above 
permitted.  M.  Goifart  had  thought  best  to  cut  the  maize  fine 
before  ensilaging  it,  for  the  following  reasons :  First,  a  more 
uniform  mixture  of  short  straw  with  leaves  and  stalks  ;  second, 
a  division  of  the  stalks  in  short  pieces  makes  them  more  easy 
for  the  animals  to  masticate,  and  with  less  waste ;  third,  a 
packing  down  more  regular  and  more  effective  in  the  mass. 

Note. — The  further  description  of  the  process  of  ensilage  is  omitted,  as  the  pre- 
ceding directions  are  the  result  of  later  experience,  by  which  the  author  learned  to 
avoid  all  fermentation. 

The  fodder  has  an  alcoholic  odor,  quite  marked  and 
slightly  acid.  It  is  eaten  with  avidity  by  the  cows,  and  con- 
stitutes their  sole  food  since  the  commencement  of  winter. 
We  were  struck  by  the  healthy  appearance  of  the  28  or  30 
cows — their  eyes  were  bright,  the  skin  soft,  and  they  were 
in  good  condition.  But  the  point  that  above  all  attracted  our 
attention  was  the  sucking  calves,  which  are  the  most  delicate, 
and  are  always  the  first  to  suffer  from  any  deficient  or  bad 
food  given  to  their  mothers.  We  did  not  see  a  single  one 
that  had  hair  in  bad  condition,  or  that  was  scouring.  The 
fodder  that  produced  this  excellent  result  contained  neither 
salt  nor  oilcake,  and  one  would  naturally  inquire  if  it  would 
be  sufiicient  in  all  cases.  It  is  probable  that  for  very  good 
milkers,  where  the  quantity  per  day  is  25  to  30  litres,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  add  some  meal  or  oilcake  to  the  ra- 
tion of  maize  which  we  saw  distributed,  and  which  weighed 
28  kilogrammes  per  day;  but  for  the  cows  in  the  stable  of  M. 
Goffart,  weighing  alive  400  to  500  kilogrammes,  this  ration 
seemed  to  be  sufficient  for  them  and  their  calves.  In  order  to 
show  the  importance  of  the  preservation  of  maize,  I  will  give 
only  one  figure,  which  is,  that  a  crop  of  120,000  kilogrammes 
per  hectare  corresponds  to  about  one-fifth  its  weight  of  dry 


48  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

substance  per  hectare — a  magnificent  result,  superior  by  far  to 
that  which  can  be  obtained  even  with  beets  raised  for  food  ot 
cattle  in  the  lands  similar  to  those  of  the  domain  of  Burtin. 
The  stock  produces  a  great  mass  of  manure.  These  facts 
have  had  a  very  happy  influence  upon  the  business  at 
Burtin,  and  which  perhaps  will  serve  as  an  example  to  a 
country  wliich,  notwithstanding  the  immense  amelioration 
which  it  has  derived  from  raih'oads,  by  bringing  to  it  marl 
and  phosphate  fertilizers,  has  need  to  pass  beyond  the  uncer- 
tainty in  Avliich  it  has  for  a  long  time  languished.  We  have 
not  thought  best  to  enter  into  a  discussion  as  to  net  profits, 
always  quite  delicate,  because  the  j^rice  varies  so  much,  ac- 
cording to  the  commercial  circumstances  of  the  locality,  and 
the  local  management  of  each  business.  It  is  evident  that  a 
cultivation  of  maize  which  produces  GO, 000  to  100,000  kilo- 
grammes of  stalks  per  hectare,  which  must  be  earned  to  the 
machine,  cut,  carried,  and  packed  into  silos,  and  afterward 
taken  out,  involves  a  considei'able  expense.  But  it  is  evident 
also  that  a  plant  which  produces  such  quantities  of  excellent 
fodder  is  the  base  of  a  profitable  cultivation.  It  is  not  less 
evident  that,  if  the  business  is  laid  out  in  a  judicious  manner, 
so  as  to  avoid  all  unnecessary  manoeu\T.'es  and  portage,  as  is 
observed  by  factories,  the  cost  can  be  reduced  to  an  jllmost 
incredibly  small  figure. 

It  is  not  well  to  advise  farmers,  whose  means  are  often 
already  insufiicient,  to  invest  an  important  part  of  their  capital 
in  constructions  ;  but  we  should  call  their  attention  to  the 
consequences  of  the  continual  elevation  of  the  price  of  hand 
labor,  and  the  scarcity  and  increasing  worthlessness  of  farm 
hands.  We  cannot  operate  to-day  as  we  formerly  did,  be- 
cause the  successive  operations  of  opening  and  Covering  the 
silos  in  a  distant  field,  the  time  lost  in  going  and  coming 
without  overseeing,  and  the  force  wasted  in  transportation  in 
bad  weather,  have  become  too  costly.  We  see  no  reason  why 
a  silo  under  shelter  may  not  be  constructed  with  such  economy 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  49 

that  the  ensilage  of  1,000  kilogrammes  of  fodder  may  net  as 
loAV  a  cost  as  in  silos  made  in  the  ground. 

We  hope  also  to  report  soon  to  the  Society  some  figm-es 
which  concern  another  sort  of  granary,  and  which  prove  that 
1,000  kilogrammes  of  oats  may  be  kept  in  chests  of  iron,  which 
protect  it  from  all  risks  at  less  cost  than  in  the  usnal  grain  bin. 

Finally,  our  conclusion  can  only  be  very  favorable  to  the 
efforts  of  M.  Goffart.  We  find  that  he  has  made  a  remarkable 
success,  in  having  created  a  business  based  upon  the  cultiva- 
tion and  preservation  in  silos  of  maize  fodder.  He  has  creat- 
ed in  the  midst  of  poor  Sologne  a  type  of  agriculture  which 
should  be  cited  as  an  example,  even  to  those  parts  of  the 
country  that  are  better  conditioned.  He  merits,  therefore,  the 
thanks  and  congratulations  of  the  Central  Agricultural  Society 
of  France. 

These  resolutions  were  put  to  vote,  and  unanimously 
earned. 

Note. — One  of  the  expenses  incident  to  tliia  culture  in  France  does  not  apply  to 
the  United  States,  viz.,  the  purchase  of  seed-corn,  which  there  must  be  imported,  as 
in  the  South  of  France,  where  the  grain  matures,  there  is  no  more  produced  than  is 
needed  for  local  consumption. 


11. 

EXTRACT  FROM  THE  JOURNAL  DE  L'AGRICULl^URE, 
OCTOBER    23,  1875. 

As  we  had  announced,  we  visited,  Oct.  18,  the  farm  Bur- 
tin  of  M.  Goffart,  to  assist  at  the  ensilage  of  maize.  We  met 
there  the  G%neral  Inspectors  of  Agriculture,  the  Vice-Presi- 
dent of  the  Agi'icultural  Commission  of  Blois,  the  Director  of 
the  Agricultural  Colon}-  of  St.  Maurice,  the  Baron  of  Coriohs, 
several  members  of  the  General  Council,  several  engineers  of 
arts  and  manufactures,  and  other  ao-ricultnrists.      We  watched 


50  CULTURE  AMD  J^XSILAGE  OF  :\rAIZE 

the  operation  for  half  a  day,  and  Ave  are  able  to  render  an  ac- 
count of  the  work.  A  steam-eng-ine,  heated  mth  wood,  ran  a 
feed-cutter,  near  to  Avhich  a  cart  brought  the  maize  as  it  was 
cut  in  the  field. 

Two  workmen  fed  the  maize  to  the  machine,  which  cut  it 
one  centimetre  in  length.  One  shovelled  cut  straw  upon  the  cut 
maize  in  the  proportion  of  about  one-.sixth  in  volume.  Two 
men  shovelled  the  mixture  into  the  silo,  Avhere  two  more  spread 
and  packed  it.  Including  the  fireman  and  teamster,  nine  men 
were  employed  in  the  cutting.  Besides  these,  two  other  teams 
were  employed  in  bringing  from  the  field,  where  four  women 
and  two  men  were  cutting  and  loading.  Thus  seventeen  per- 
sons were  employed  at  the  work,  and  about  5,000  kilogrammes 
were  ensilaged  per  horn-.  We  brought  away  for  analysis  some 
samples  of  maize  cut  before  us,  and  also  some  that  we  cut  in 
the  field.  From  the  weights  and  measures  that  we  have  taken, 
M.  Gofi'art,  who  has  made  fom*  hectares  of  maize,  Dent  de 
Cheval,  will  harvest  at  least  100,000  kilogrammes  per  hectare. 
On  one  field  that  we  visited  the  product  will  be  15  kilogrammes 
per  square  metre.  In  thirteen  stalks  that  Ave  measm-ed,  Aveigh- 
ing  15.2  kilogrammes,  the  average  length  Avas  3.07  metres. 

We  shall  return  to  this  subject  when  we  shall  have  ana- 
lyzed the  maize,  and  afterward  when  Ave  have  returned  to  Bur- 
tin,  in  order  to  take  some  of  the  maize  from  the  silo  that  we 
saAN'  filled. 


III. 

EXTRACT  FROM  THE  JOURNAL  DE  L'AGRIOULTURE  OF 

MAY    27,  1876. 

We  have  been  in\dted,  May  16,  to  Adsit  and  state  the  con- 
dition of  preservation  of  maize,  cut  green,  of  which  we  saAv 
the  ensilage  in  October  last,  in  company  with  many  prominent 
agricultm*ists. 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  51 

With  such  men  the  discussions  could  not  fail  to  possess  a 
lively  interest,  and  we  will  return  to  them.  At  present  we 
only  wish  to  state  three  things. 

First. — The  perfect  preservation  of  the  maize  cut  green, 
after  seven  months  of  ensilage,  without  any  elevation  of  tem- 
peratm-e,  without  fermentation  of  any  kind,  the  rapidity  with 
which  it  takes,  upon  exposure,  the  alcoholic  odor,  the  avidity 
with  which  the  bovine  beasts  proceed  to  eat  it,  even  when  it  is 
offered  to  them  by  the  side  of  new-mown  grass. 

Second. — Putting  in  silos  2,000  kilogrammes  of  rye,  cut 
green,  and  cut  in  machine. 

Third. — The  excellent  condition  of  the  animals  which  had 
been  exclusively  fed  on  the  ensilaged  maize. 

We  congratulate  M.  Groffart  upon  the  remarkable  results 
that  he  has  obtained. 


IV. 

THE  ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  MAIZE  CUT  IN 
GREEN   STATE. 

From  a  letter  to  M.  A.  Goffart,  from  J.  A.  Barral,  Perpetual 
Secretary  of  the  Central  Agricultural  Society  of  France,  editor 
of  Journal  de  V Agricidture  : 

You  do  not  seek  to  produce  a  fermentation  in  the  cut  fod- 
der. You  propose  to  maintain  all  its  parts  in  a  condition 
as  near  as  possible  like  that  of  the  plant  at  the  moment  that 
it  is  cut.  I  have  undertaken  the  solution  of  a  question  of 
vegetable  physiolog)^  which  presents  a  scientific  interest,  and 
also  a  practical  interest  of  the  first  order. 

It  is  important  to  ascertain  what  is  the  distribution  of  min- 
eral and  organic  matter  in  the  different  parts  of  the  stalk  of 
maize.     Wlien  it  is  cut  for  the  silo  it  becomes  a  mixture  of  all 


52  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

parts  of  the  plant  in  such  a  manner  as  to  give  to  the  stock 
those  that  are  richest  in  nourislunent  as  well  as  those  that  are 
poorest  This  is  one  of  the  advantages  of  the  method  which 
you  have  used  so  many  years.  If  you  give  the  corn  plant  to 
the  stock  in  the  natural  state,  the)^  will  eat  fii'st  the  tender 
paits,  and  will  leave  the  hard  parts,  which  offer  the  most  resist- 
ance to  the  teeth  and  which  have  the  least  flavor. 

I  have  taken  thu-teen  stalks  of  maize,  Aveighing  altogether 
16/^^'  kilogrammes,  and  have  cut  them  up  into  six  lots,  as  fol- 
lows :  Each  of  these  lots  has  been  desiccated  at  100  degrees  (R.). 
The  stalks  were  cut  into  three  parts.  The  length  of  each  por- 
tion was,  Upper  part,  0.65ni. ;  middle  part,  O.S8m, ;  lower 
pai-t,  0.80m. ;  the  average  total  length  of  each  stalk,  ^vithout 
tassels,  being  2.33m. 

Weight  in  green       Weight  after  de-       Water,  or  Lose, 
state.  siccation.  per  cent. 

Grammes.  Grammes. 

Leaves.. 4.805  L315  72.63 

Tassel 102  .047  56.07 

Ear,  with  stem 3.026  .752  75.14 

Upper  part  of  stalk 1.270  .125  90.15 

Middle  part  of  stalk 2.446  .341  80.06 

Lower  part  of  stalk -     5.146  .661  87.15 

The  thirteen  stalks 16.795  3.241  80.76 

Thus,  the  water  was  quite  unequally  distributed  in  the 
stalk.  They  were  more  watery  at  the  upper  part,  but  the 
flowering  portion  was  much  less ;  the  grain  was  still  milky. 
The  relations  between  the  different  parts  of  the  plant  are 
found  to  be  as  follows : 

Normal  state.  Dry  state. 

Leaves 29.20)  40.57) 

Tassel 66  S  47.87  1.42  S    65.19 

Ear,  with  stem 18.01  )  23.20  ) 

Upper  part  stalk 7.56  )  3.85  ) 

Middle   part  stalk 14.86^  52.13  10.52^    34.81 

Lower  part  stalk 30.01)  20.44) 

100.00    100.00  100.00    100.00 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  53 

This  shows  that  the  stalks,  when  fresh,  surpass  in  weight 
the  remainder  of  the  organs  of  the  plant.  The}'  contain,  how- 
ever, a  less  proportion  of  dry  matter,  and  less  than  the  leaves, 
\\hich  have  in  the  fresh  state  a  mnch  less  weight.  I  have 
analyzed  separately  each  of  the  six  lots,  and  I  have  obtained 
the  following  composition  in  organic  substance  and  ashes,  or 
mineral  substance : 


,- 

— Stalk- 

. 

Entire 

Upper. 

Middle. 

Lower. 

Plaut. 

95.4-S 

97.31 

98.26 

94.26 

Leaves.  Tassel.  Ears. 

Organic  substance.     89.01  94.80  98.30 
Ashes    or    mineral 

substance 10.99  5.20  1.70        4.57        2.69        1.74        r).74 

100.00    100.00    100.00    100.00    100.00    100.00    100.00 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  the  mineral  substance  is  accumulated 
in  the  leaves  and  upper  part  of  stalk. 

Here  are  the  exact  proportions  of  the  mineral  substance 
in  the  different  organs  of  maize  : 

Leaves 77.70  !  Middle  part  of  stalk 4.87 

Tassel 1.22     Lower  part  of  stalk 0.29 

Ear  and  stem 6.79  

Upper  part  of  stalk 3.13  100.00 

Thus,  more  than  77  per  cent  of  mineral  substance  is  ac- 
cumulated in  the  leaves,  more  than  14  per  cent  in  the  stalk, 
and  only  about  6  per  cent  in  the  ear. 

We  will  now  ascertain  the  composition  of  the  different 
parts  of  the  plant,  as  appears  when  desiccated : 


Leaves. 

Tassels. 

Ears. 

Upper. 

— StaUi.— 
Middle. 

Lower. 

Eutire 
riant. 

Nitrogenous  substances. 

6.28 

6.27 

11.09 

4.34 

3.86 

3.37 

6.47 

Fatty  matter  soluble  in 

ether  

1.30 

1.90 

2.50 

1.00 

.40 

.30 

1.28 

Saccharine  matter  solu- 

ble in  alcohol 

0.50 

4.70 

8.30 

17.50 

20.60 

21.00 

11.77 

Starch  

64.33 

25.23 

73.51 

39.49 

38.65 

35.79 

56.35 

Cellulose 

10.60 

56.70 

2.90 

33.10 

33.80 

38.00 

18.37 

Mineral  substance 

J  0.99 

5.20 

1.70 

4.57 

2.69 

1.74 

5.74 

Total 100.00  iOO.OO  100.00  100.00  100.00  100.00  100.00 

Nitrogenous  (percent).     1.004     1.004     1.775       .694       .617       .540     1.033 


54  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGK  OF  MAIZE. 

The  ear  is  found,  as  we  would  expect,  much  richer  in 
nitrogenous  substance  than  the  other  parts  of  the  plant.  The 
nutritive  power,  as  it  is  agreed  to  deline  it,  by  the  relation  of 
azotic  substance  to  the  sum  of  the  fatty  matter,  sugar,  and 
starch,  is  quite  inferior  in  the  stalks  to  that  of  the  other  organs, 
as  {\ui  following  table  shows : 


Leaves 

Taking  the  ear  as  unity, 

the  propoi'tiouato  nutritive  power 

is  jis  follows: 

66 

Nutritive  value  of 
whole  plant.  • 

2  54 

Tassel 

1.49     

.09 

Ears 

1  00 

2  57 

Upper  part  stalk 

Middle  part  stalk 

Lower  part  stalk 

.57     

17 

.49     

.41 

45     

.69 

6.47 

The  stalk,  however,  shows  that  it  is  very  rich,  and,  above 
all,  the  leaves,  which  therefore  should  bo  taken  care  of  for 
the  cattle.  The  fatty  matter  is  concentrated  in  the  leaves  and 
in  the  ear;  the  saccharine  matter  in  the  leaves  and  stalk,  and 
mostly  in  the  lower  part  of  the  stalk. 

The  following  table  indicates  the  concentration  of  saccha- 
rine matter  in  the  leaves  and  stalk : 


Each  part  contributes 
2.04 

The  different  pnrts  to  whole. 

22.36 

Tassel 

.07       .  .  . 

59 

Ears 

1,93     . . . 

16.41 

Upper  part  stalk 

Middle  part  stalk 

Lower  part  stalk 

.67     ... 

5.09 

2.17      ... 

18.45 

4.2!)      . . . 

36.50 

11.77      . . . 

100.00 

Cellulose  substance  is,  as  we  would  expect,  in  large  pro- 
portion in  the  stalk,  and  mostly  toward  the  lower  part  of  it. 
It  is  principally  in  the  leaves  and  ear,  with  stem,  that  the 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 


55 


starch  and   the  other  principles  which  are  neither  cellulose 
nor  nitrogenous  nor  mineral,  are  found. 


CENTESIMAL    COMPOSITION  OF   THE   ASHES   OF  EACH  PART   OF    THE 
PLANT,    AND    DISTRIBUTION   OF   THE    SAME. 


Phosphoric  Acid 

Sulphuric  Acid 

Chlorine 

Potash  

Soda 

Lime 

Magnesia  

Iron 

Silex 

Carbonic  Acid  aud  Waste. . 


Entire 
Plant. 


7.17 
3.81 
1.35 
4.41 
8.2G 

12.90 
6.00 
0.51 

54.75 
0.18 


Leaves.  Tassels.     Ears. 


Upper 
Part      Middle. 
Stalk 


3.97 
3.211 
1.041 
L23| 

6.78i 
13.78; 

5.04' 

0.40; 
63.70 

0.13 


100.00  100.00 


10.01 

6.13 

2.73 

7.88 

10.37 

11.871 

15.03 

0.11 

35.83 

0.03 


33.50 

3.58 

3.. 52 

27.1l| 

21.36, 

3.46, 

7.04 

trace. 

0.341 

0.09i 


9.07 

5.61 

2.15 

14.61 

12.57 

10.29 

10.52 

2.08 

29.83 

3.27 


14.02 
8.65 

trace. 
2.41 
8.39 

14.31 
8.73 
0.63 

41.37 
1.49 


100.00|l00.00l  100.00 100.00 


Lower. 

7I7 
3.81 
1.35 
4.41 
8.26 

12.96 
6.60 
0.51 

54.75 
0.18 


100.00 


The  above  table  shows  that  the  ears  are  the  richest  in 
phosphoric  acid  and  potash.  These  also  contain  the  lar<^est 
percentage  of  soda,  the  least  of  lime  and  silex.  As  to  the 
distribution  of  each  mineral  element  in  the  different  parts  of 
the  plant,  it  is  necessary,  in  order  to  study  it  thoroughl}',  to 
enter  into  a  more  detailed  and  separate  examination.  Phos- 
phoric acid  or  phosphorus  plays  an  important  part  in  agricul- 
ture, not  because  it  is  more  indispensable  to  vegetation  than 
several  other  elements,  but  because  nature  has  not  distributed 
it  with  so  much  profusion  in  all  lands  or  in  the  atmosphere  as 
certain  other  elements  that  on  that  account  are  considered  sec- 
ondary. Indeed,  there  is  not  any  one  element  in  vegetation 
of  any  greater  importance  than  another,  and  if  any  person 
judges  othermse  it  is  because  he  places  himself  at  the  point  of 
view  of  an  agricultmist  who,  having  need  to  produce  certain 
crops  of  a  special  kind,  needs  to  accumulate  such  elements  as 
enter  specially  into  their  organization.  Therefore,  in  order  to 
obtain  abundant  food,  in  ordei*  to  produce  with  rapidity  do- 
mestic animals,  whose  organs  requii-e  much  phosphorus,  it  is 


50  CLLTUKE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

necessary  to  seek  methods  for  increasing  the  supply  of  phos- 
phates, more  or  less  assimilable,  that  the  plants  may  find  in 
the  bed  where  their  roots  develop.  To  indicate  the  sources  of 
the  supply,  whether  in  the  residuum  of  factories  or  of  the 
household,  or  in  the  numerous  repositories,  has  been  one  of  the 
gi-eatest  services  rendered  in  modern  times  to  agriculture  by 
chemistr}^  and  geology.  But  there  our  knowledge  ends.  We 
are  entirely  ignorant  as  to  how  the  phosphorus  distributes  itself 
in  the  vegetable,  by  what  processes  it  penetrates  and  circu- 
lates, and  accumulates  in  certain  organs,  or  exactly  what  these 
organs  are. 

As  to  the  relative  distribution  of  these  elements,  the  fol- 
lowing tables  show,  as  far  as  concerns  maize  fodder  intended 
for  green  preservation  by  ensilage : 

PHOSPHORIC    ACID. 

Amount  in  each  part.         Proportion  in  different  parts. 

Leaves,  Grammes,  0.177  42.96 

Tassel "  0.007  1.70 

Ears "  0.132   32.04 

Upper  part  stalk "  0.020   485 

Middle  part  stalk "  0.02G   631 

Lower  part  stalk ''  0.050   12.14 

Whole  plant,  dry "  0.412   100.00 

SULPHURIC    ACID. 

The  role  of  sulphur  in  vegetation  is  nearly  unknown.  All 
that  we  know  is  that  it  is  absolutely  necessary.  It  is  generally 
found  in  less  proportion  than  phosphorus ;  in  maize  as  88  to 
180. 

Quan 

Leaves Grammes,  0.144 

Tassel   " 

Ears 

Upper  part  stalk " 

Middle  part  stalk " 

Lower  part  stalk " 

Whole  plant,  dry " 


each  part. 
0  144 

Proportion  in  different  parts. 
65.75 

0.005 

2.28 

0  014 

6.39 

0  009     - . 

4.11 

0.016  - . . 

7.30 

0  031 

14.17 

0.219   ... 

100.00 

CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  57 


CHLORINE. 

By  the  conclusive  experiments  of  Prince  de  Salon-Horst- 
mar,  we  know  that  chlorine  is  indispensable  to  the  regular 
operations  of  the  different  phases  of  vegetation,  but  the  most 
complete  obscurity  rests  upon  its  real  action. 

Quautitj-  iu  each  ran .  rroportiou  iu  difl'eront  parts. 

Leaves Grammes,  0.047   60.26 


Tassel 

0.002   

2.56 

Ears 

0.014'  .... 

17.95 

Upper  part  stalk 

0.009   

0.006 

11.54 

Middle       "              .       .. 

7  69 

Lower        "         

traces  

it 
POTj 

Whole  plant  dry 

0.078  

iSH. 

100.00 

Berthier's  saying,  "No  plant  without  potash,"  has  become 
a  maxim. 

Quantity  iu  each  part.  Proportion  in  different  parts. 

Leaves Grammes,  0.055  21.04 

Tassel '^          0.006  2.27 

Ears "          0.107  42.29 

Upper  part  .stalk "          0.036  14.23 

Middle       "         "          0.041  16.20 

Lower        "         "          0.008  3.17 


Whole  plant  dry "  0.253  100.00 


SODA   IN   MAIZE. 


In  the  whole  plant  dry,  0.475  grammes,  of  which  two- 
thirds  is  accumulated  in  the  leaves,  and  one-sixth  in  the  ears. 


LIME    IN   MAIZE. 


Lime  has  been  considered  necessary  to  plant  growth  from 
a  very  ancient  period.  More  than  fom--fifths  are  found  in  the 
leaves,  only  two  per  cent  in  the  ear,  and  the  quantity  in- 
creases in  descending  the  stalk. 


58  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 


MAGNESIA   IN    MAIZE. 

The  role  of  magnesia  in  vegetation  has  been  but  little 
studied.  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  after  experiments  made 
in  Germany,  that  its  presence  is  indispensable  to  plants.  Two- 
thirds  of  it  is  found  in  the  leaves,  and  the  remainder  equally 
divided  in  the  other  five  parts  of  the  plant. 

IRON   IN   MAIZE. 

Iron  is  evidently  of  great  importance  to  the  life  of  ani- 
mals who  are  nourished  by  vegetation ;  as  with  sulphur,  chlo- 
rine, soda,  lime,  and  magnesia,  the  greatest  accumulation  is  in 
the  leaves.  But  it  is  a  noticeable  fact  that  it  is  absent  from 
the  ear,  which  would  seem  to  explain  the  opinion  of  physicians 
as  to  the  insufficiency  of  corn-meal  for  exclusive  human  food. 
As  to  maize  harvested  green  in  order  to  be  fed  to  cattle  after 
ensilage,  the  lack  of  it  in  the  ear  is  equalized  by  its  presence 
in  the  other  parts  of  the  plant. 

SILICA. 

It  is  probable  that  all  silica  enters  the  organs  of  vegeta- 
tion in  the  soluble  state.  The  quantity  found  is  very  con- 
siderable. 

Quantity  in  eacli  part.  Proportion  in  different  parts. 

Leaves Grammes,  2.843   90.45 

Tassel ''          0.026   0.82 

Ears "          0.001   0.03 

Upper  part  stalk "          0.042   L33 

Middle       "         "          0.084   2.G7 

Lower        "         "          0.147    4.70 


Whole  plant  dry "  3.143   100.00 

Thus  the  stalk  contains  only  about  one-tenth  part  of  the 
amount  contained  in  the  leaves,  which  contain  90  per  cent  of 
the  whole  plant. 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  59 


EXTRACT  FROM  THE  REPORT  OF  THE   AGRICULURAL  CLUB 
OF  KOMORANTIN,  Oct.  12,  1876. 

By  M.  Rofsseait. 

The  discovery  of  the  phosphates  was  a  happy  event  for 
Sologne,  but  that  depends  upon  our  taking  for  an  objective 
point  the  production  of  grass.  Their  misuse  without  this  rem- 
edy would  lead  us  quickly  to  sterility.  It  is  necessary  for  us 
to  produce  from  grass  fodder  for  stall  feeding.  The  two  years 
of  teiTible  di'ought  that  we  have  just  passed  tlirough  demon- 
strates this  necessity.  Until  the  present  time  our  resources  in 
fodder  were  limited  to  our  natural  meadows,  clover,  and  ray- 
grass.  Our  natural  meadows,  where  we  cannot  irrigate  them, 
yield  very  feebly,  and  the  grasses  that  they  produce  possess  a 
very  moderate  nutritive  quality.  The  clover,  puss-grass  and 
ray-grass  leave  us  very  often  in  embarrassment.  Om-  soil  is 
light,  retains  but  scantily  the  moisture  that  is  necessary  for  the 
abundant  production  of  fodder ;  we  have  seen  this  sad  experi- 
ence this  year,  for  in  all  the  farms  that  we  have  visited,  the 
gi'eatest  production  that  we  found  was  only  thirty  to  thirty- 
five  wagon  loads.  These  results  are  afflicting,  and  would 
retard  indefinitely  any  progress  in  agriculture,  if  some  sup- 
plementary resources  were  not  just  now  offered  to  us.  A  dis- 
tinguished agriculturist  of  Sologne  has  brought  to  us  a  com- 
plement to  om-  needs. 

Since  M.  Goffart  has  demonstrated  by  works  and  experi- 
ments for  more  than  ten  years  that  maize  fodder,  easily  cul- 
tivated, gives  in  our  lands  an  abundant  crop,  which,  in  his 
case,  has  exceeded  120,000  kilogrammes  to  the  liectare,  we 
can  truly  say  that  our  country  is  safe  from  the  scarcity  of 
fodder.  Since  he  has  shown  by  repeated  successful  efforts 
that  this  mass  of  vegetation  was  not  only  a  resource  for  the 


60  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

simuner  and  autumn,  but  by  ensilage  it  can  be  made  almost 
an  inexhaustible  pro^^sion  for  the  winter,  we  can  say  that  the 
agriculture  of  Sologne  has  found  its  proper  direction.  The 
beet,  which  does  not  do  well  with  us,  is  the  wealth  of  the  de- 
partments of  the  north.  It  permits  them  to  support  and  to  fatten 
a  great  number  of  animals,  and  thereby  to  produce  a  great 
amount  of  fertilizers  by  which  to  maintain  and  to  increase  the 
fertility  of  their  soil.  Since  the  beet  fails  us,  we  will  have  the 
maize ;  and  if  we  give  it  abundant  manure,  and  that  wliich  it 
prefers  above  all,  superphosphates,  if  we  are  wise  enough  to 
make  use  of  the  process  that  has  been  shown  us  (ensilage),  we 
will  see  a  second  agricultural  movement  which  will  have  a 
wider  scope,  without  the  same  danger,  as  the  discovery  of  the 
phosphates. 


VI. 

EXTRACT  FROM  THE  REPORT  TO  THE  CENTRAL  AGRICUL- 
TURAL   COMMITTEE    OF    SOLOGNE,  Oct.    31,  1875. 

By  M.  J  ULiEN,  President  of  the  Club  of  Romorantin. 

Gentlemen  :  The  question  of  maize  fodder,  and  above  all 
of  its  preservation  by  the  means  of  ensilage,  has  made  too 
much  noise  in  the  agricultural  world  to  permit  this  club  to  re- 
main a  stranger  to  it.  You  have  learned  of  the  profit  that  the 
country  might  draw  from  this  innovation,  and  it  will  not  be 
one  of  your  least  titles  to  the  public  gratitude  to  possess 
among  you  the  pioneers  who  have  aided  to  find  the  methods 
for  bringing  into  practical  use  an  idea  that  is  destined  to  work 
a  revolution  in  the  agriculture  of  central  France.  One  of  the 
greatest  difficulties  that  is  presented  to  the  enterprising  agri- 
culturist in  a  country  analogous  to  oui's  is  the  uncertainty  of 


CULTURE  AXD  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  Gl 

the  crop  of  fodder.  Oui'  irregular  climate,  passing  from  great 
humidity  to  extreme  diyness,  puts  his  enterprise  always  in 
peril.  He  can  never  count  upon  the  resources  which  he  has 
prepared  so  long  in  advance.  To-day,  however,  thanks  to  the 
introduction  of  maize  fodder  in  our  variety  of  crops,  the  li\e 
stock  will  find  a  provision  as  sure  for  the  winter  as  for  the 
summer.  Maize  is  for  our  central  departments  what  the  beet 
is  for  the  countries  with  rich  soil,  and  like  that  precious  sugar 
bearer,  it  places  at  our  service  an  immense  supply  of  pulp. 
[The  description  of  the  processes  and  of  the  silos  is  omitted, 
as  the  improvements  made  by  M.  Goffart,  in  1876-7,  an- 
tiquates  it.] 

The  maize  may  be  ensilaged  without  cutting  it,  but  it  is 
necessary  to  use  more  precaution  to  obtain  a  proper  compres- 
sion ;  there  may  remain  some  air  inclosed,  which  necessarily 
causes  some  of  it  to  be  more  or  less  injured.  It  is  better  to 
cut  it  before  ensilage,  which  also  dispenses  with  doing  it  after- 
ward. It  is  not  necessary  to  choose  fine  weather  for  ensilage  ; 
on  the  other  hand,  humidity  is  rather  an  advantage  than  other- 
wise. The  introduction  of  salt  is  not  necessary.  It  aids  noth- 
ing in  the  preservation,  which  is  due  rather  to  a  sort  of  slow 
boiling  produced  by  the  high  temperature  that  is  developed  in 
the  silo. 

Note.— This  idea  was  proven  to  l)e  a  mistake  by  later  experience. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  add  that  this  method  of  preser- 
vation is  also  applicable  to  many  other  kinds  of  fodder,  such 
as  rye,  rape,  buckwheat  before  maturity  of  the  straw,  the 
stalks  of  Jerusalem  artichokes,  the  leaves  of  beets,  even  clover 
and  lucern,  but  above  all,  the  aftermath,  which  it  is  sometimes 
impossible  to  cure. 

It  is  indeed  a  new  era  opened  for  poor  countries.  Let  us 
hope  that  our  Sologne  will  profit  by  it  more  than  all  others, 
which  would  be  its  just  right,  since  from  its  bosom  the  impulse 
went  forth.     We  can  also  congratulate  ourselves  that  this  rev- 


62  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

olution  is  due  to  the  successful  and  persevering  efforts  of  a 
member  of  our  Society,  M.  Auguste  Goffart. 


VII. 

EXTRACT  FROM  THE  SPEECH  TO  THE   CENTRAL  AGRICUL- 
TURAL COMMITTEE  OF  SOLOGNE,  JUNE  25,  1876 

By  M.  Bointilliers,  President. 

The  preservation  of  maize  as  a  green  fodder  by  ensilage 
is  a  fixed  fact,  thanks  to  the  persevering  and  happy  experi- 
ments of  our  colleague,  M.  Goffart.  It  is  an  immense  benefit 
accrued  to  France,  and  especially  to  our  Sologne ;  therefore  I 
have  asked  from  the  Minister  of  Agriculture  for  M.  Goffart  the 
decoration  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  This  reward,  so  well  de- 
served, was  not  delayed. 

(This  news  was  received  by  prolonged  and  unanimous 
applause.) 


culturp:  and  ensilage  of  maize.  r.8 


INTRODUCTION   OF   ENSILAGE   IN   THE    UNITED 
STATES. 

By  Mr.  Francis  Morris, 

OP   OAKLAND   MAXOH.   HOWARD   COUNTY,    MARYLAND. 

I  HAVE  been  requested  to  give  my  experience  in  gi'owing 
com  fodder,  preserving  it  in  silos,  or  trenches,  and  feeding  it 
to  stock. 

In  the  early  summer  of  1876,  I  received  from  France  a 
newspaper  containing  an  account  of  the  plan  they  had  adopted 
of  raising  maize,  or  Indian  corn,  cutting  the  same  when  in  tas- 
sel, and  burpng  it  in  trenches,  covering  it  with  earth,  and 
feeding  it  out  to  their  stock  in  the  following  winter  or  spring. 
This  statement  induced  me  to  make  the  experiment.  I  sowed, 
on  the  1st  of  August,  1876,  about  five  acres,  in  drills  three  feet 
apart,  and  about  a  bushel  of  corn  to  the  acre.  This  was  worked 
twice  -with  a  cultivator,  and  was  in  tassel  in  the  first  days  of 
October.  We  cut  the  same  with  a  mowing-machine,  carried 
it  in  wagons  to  the  feed-cutter,  cut  it  up  in  one-inch  pieces, 
and  added  to  it  an  amount  of  wheat  straw,  cut  up  in  the  same 
manner,  equal  to  one-fifth  of  the  corn  fodder.  I  had  three 
silos  bricked  up  inside  a  stone  barn.  The  silos  were  about  ten 
feet  deep  and  foui-  feet  wide,  and  twenty-four  feet  long.  The 
fodder  was  well  packed  down  by  ti-ampling  while  the  mix- 
ture was  put  away,  and  then  covered  with  boards  with  large 
and  heavy  stones  upon  them.  After  the  weights  had  pressed 
it  down  very  considerably,  they  were  taken  off,  the  boards 
covered  with  straw,  and  then  with  clay ;  the  latter  were 
thoroughly  packed,  and  the  whole  ^vas  made  a  perfect  protec- 
tion against  the  oxygen  of  the  atmosphere  penetrating  through 
the  clay  or  earth.  The  first  silo  was  opened  for  use  on  Cluist- 
mas,  and  I  fed  all  my  milking  cows  with  the  same.  Two  of 
them  refused  to  eat  their  portion,  and  when  they  left  their 
stalls    the    other    cows   ate   it;    and   from  that  day    I    have 


64  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

never  fed  it  to  an  animal  that  has  refused  it — horses,  mules, 
oxen,  cows,  sheep,  and  pigs  -svill  all  leave  any  other  feed  and 
eat  this  by  choice. 

In  the  year  1877,  from  want  of  personal  attention  and 
from  a  very  dr)^  time,  my  corn  fodder  was  not  as  large  a  crop 
as  it  should  have  been,  but  it  was  sufficient  to  feed  nearly  a 
thousand  head  of  stock  for  over  two  months ;  it  was  equally 
good  in  quality  as  it  was  in  1876. 

For  this  year  I  have  more  than  double  the  quantity  of 
this  fodder.  I  have  made  and  filled  a  very  large  silo  out  of 
doors,  which  will  probably  hold  from  fifty  to  seventy-five 
tons,  besides  filling  the  tlu-ee  silos  in  my  barn.  I  have  a  very 
large  herd  of  stock  dependent  on  my  corn  fodder  for  thek 
winter  feed,  and  I  feel  every  confidence  that  it  will  furnish 
me  all  the  feed  I  require. 

In  a  very  long  experience  in  raising  stock,  I  have  found 
corn  fodder  preserved  as  above  stated  the  best  food  for  milk- 
ing cows  that  I  ever  used.  It  is  equal  if  not  superior  to 
June  grass,  and  its  cultivation  is  so  easy,  its  presei'vation  so 
inexpensive,  that  to-day  no  one  can  estimate  its  advantage  to 
the  agriculturist.  The  average  hay  crop  of  this  State  (New 
York)  is  not  equal  to  one  ton  per  acre,  and  every  farmer 
knows  what  a  costly  crop  it  is  to  raise,  to  cure,  and  to  preserve 
after  it  is  raised,  while  our  Indian  corn  crop  mil  gi'ow  and 
flourish  and  tassel  with  the  most  ordinary  care  and  tillage. 
Twenty-five  tons  to  the  acre,  with  a  light  di*essing  of  barnyard 
manure,  and  working  it  twice  with  a  cultivator,  is  a  small  crop. 
Add  to  the  barnyard  manure  a  dressing  of  guano,  and  more 
than  double  that  quantity  can  be  raised  to  the  acre — I  am  al- 
most afraid  to  state  the  quantity  that  can  be  raised  per  acre. 
Suppose,  however,  we  put  the  produce  down  to  twenty-five 
tons  per  acre — and  every  one  who  has  raised  corn  sowed  broad- 
cast ^vill  recognize  that  this  is  a  small  crop — what  will  be  the 
result  in  this  good  State  of  New  York  if  one-tenth  of  her 
arable  land  is  used  in  this  way?    Where  is  the  stock  to  feed 


CULTUHE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  ^lAIZE.  C5 

upon  the  new  supply  of  food  ?  It  is  not  here.  We  should 
have  to  double  the  number  of  our  horses,  cows,  sheep,  and  all 
our  stock,  and  after  we  have  done  that  we  should  have  to 
double  them  agam.  In  fact,  the  amount  of  stock  that  could 
be  maintained  is  so  great  that  we  should  be  wholly  indepen- 
dent of  the  West,  for  the  most  liberal  supply  of  beef  and  mut- 
ton will  be  supplied  by  the  cultivation  of  our  own  lands.  The 
beef  that  we  shall  have  when  we  make  a  proper  use  of  pre- 
served green  food  will  be  very  different  from  the  beef  fatted 
on  slops  procured  from  the  whiskey  stills  of  Chicago  and  other 
cities  of  the  West.  The  old  adage,  "No  cattle  no  corn,"  is 
fully  verified  by  our  wheat  production  in  this  State.  The 
lands  are  all  so  indifferent  in  quality  that  he  must  be  a  bold 
farmer  who  now  sows  a  field  of  wheat ;  but  the  corn-fodder, 
which  it  is  now  proposed  to  raise,  will  give  such  a  3='early 
amount  of  manure  as  will  enable  every  farmer  to  get  a  wheat 
crop  of  thirty  to  forty  bushels  of  wheat  to  the  acre,  and  suc- 
ceed that  by  good  clover.  After  that  is  done,  his  progress  to 
a  maximum  yield  of  cereals  will  be  very  rapid,  and  I  have 
every  confidence  that  the  crops  of  this  country,  blessed  with 
its  tropical  sun,  Avill  exceed  in  value  and  importance  that  of 
any  other  agricultural  country  that  can  be  named. 

Feancis  Morris. 

Dcccmhcr,  1878. 


[Translation.] 

LETTER  FHOM  MONS.  ClOFFArtT. 

BuRTiN,  December  4,  1878. 

Monsieur  J.  B.  Brown,  at  New  York: 

I  learn  with  pleasure  that  you  have  undertaken  to  translate 
into  English  my  Manual  on  Ensilage.  I  have  never  had  but 
one  desire  concerning  it :  that  is  to  see  the  greatest  possible 
publicit}-  given  to  my  work,  and  I  devoutly  hope  for  the  sue- 


66  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OP  MAIZE. 

cess  of  your  translation.  Since  I  commenced  my  crusade  in 
favor  of  maize,  and  of  mj*  method  of  ensilage,  the  cultivation  of 
that  gigantic  grass  has  increased  more  than  ten-fold  in  France, 
and  the  commerce  of  New  York  will  find  with  us  an  immense 
channel  of  export,  if  it  can  deliver  to  us  seed  in  good  order; 
for  too  often  the  maize  coming  from  America  has  been  heated 
by  a  long  sojourn  upon  the  ship,  and  has  more  or  less  lost  its 
germinative  power.  Whoever  can  guarantee  us  against  that 
damage,  and  insure  the  sending  us  the  best  species,  that  is  to 
say,  the  variety  that  is  most  productive  as  forage,  will  render 
us  an  immense  service.  See  if  you  can  come  to  our  aid  in 
this  matter. 

My  latest  experiments  have  induced  me  to  mix  my  fine 
straw  and  mv  cut  straw  with  the  maize  at  the  time  of  ensilag-e. 
Mixed  at  the  time  of  consumption,  these  straws  are  eaten  with- 
out difficulty  by  the  stock,  but  a  very  large  proportion  of  them 
is  to  be  found  in  the  manure.  It  is  not  so  when  the  straws 
have  been  softened  and  decomposed  by  a  sojourn  of  a  few 
weeks  or  months  with  the  maize  in  the  silo.  I  do  not  exceed, 
however,  five  per  cent  of  the  weight  of  the  maize. 

Sheep  and  cattle  fatten  with  wonderful  rapidity  upon  maize 
ensilage,  with  the  addition  of  8  to  10  per  cent  in  weight  of  oil- 
cake meal. 

Two  of  my  disciples  cut  and  ensilaged  last  autumn,  one 
120,000  kilogrammes  of  maize,  the  other  125, 000, "in  one  day's 
work.  The  more  rapid  the  work  the  less  it  costs;  and  in 
America,  where  farming  operations  are  upon  an  immense  scale, 
there  will  be  needed  powerful  cutters  that  will  exceed  12,000 
kilogrammes  per  hour. 

I  continue  to  publish  from  time  to  time  articles  upon  en- 
silage, which  can  be  found  in  Le  Journal  cV Agriculture  of  Paris. 
Be  pleased  to  accept,  Monsieur,  the  expression  of  my  dis- 
tinguished sentiments. 

Aug.  Goffakt. 


CULTUKE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  J\[AIZE. 


CONCLUSIONS  OF  THE  TRANSLATOR. 

In  England,  all  cereals  used  as  food  for  man  are  called 
"  corn,"  but  those  avIio  first  landed  in  America  from  that 
countiy  found  a  new  cereal  used  as  food  by  the  aborigines. 
They  added  it  to  their  catalogue  of  corn  with  the  prefix  of  In- 
dian. It  is  raised  from  Canada  to  Patagonia ;  in  Africa  from 
the  Mediterranean  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope ;  in  Central  Asia ; 
in  Australia ;  in  Europe,  in  Hungary,  France,  and  Spain.  No 
other  cereal,  except  rice,  is  so  extensively  cultivated,  and  in 
every  part  of  the  world  alike  the  most  valuable  portion  of  the 
plant  has  been  wasted. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  corn  plant,  after  having  been  cul- 
tivated mostly  for  its  fruit  since  its  discovery  in  America, 
should  have  been,  so  to  speak,  rediscovered  in  Central  France. 
For  it  seems  by  tlie  foregoing  that  far  more  animal  as  Avell  as 
human  life  can  be  supported  b}^  the  culture  and  preservation  of 
the  whole  plant  than  by  the  fruit  alone.  The  dried  or  partially 
dried  stalk  that  our  farmers  have  endeavored  to  compel  their 
animals  to  eat,  by  adding  to  it  labor  and  meal,  is  a  pitiful 
nourishment  as  compared  with  the  sweet,  fresh,  juicy,  preserved 
plant  that  they  might  have  had  for  all  these  centuries,  if  they 
had  only  happened  to  think  of  it.  It  was  a  veritable  inspira- 
tion that  came  to  Monsieur  Goffart  when  he  piled  upon  his  en- 
silage the  stocks  and  stones,  and  solved  the  problem  by  means 
of  continuous  pressure.  These  two  words  should  become  as 
famous  as  the  Eureka  of  the  Greek  philosopher.  The  first 
notice  of  this  matter  in  this  countiy  seems  to  have  been  made 
in  the  American  Agriculturist  of  June,  1875,  with  illustrations 
of  the  best  methods  then  known,  and  quite  a  full  description ; 
but  at  that  time  Monsieur  Goffart  had  not  made  his  final  dis- 
covery of  continuous  pressure,  and  my  own  experience,  as 
well  as  I  doubt  not  that  of  many  others  (and  the  author  of  the 
article  himself  was  exceedingly  doubtful  as  to  the  extent  of  the 


68  CULTUKE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

preservation  or  the  value  of  the  method),  was  that  green  fodder 
laid  down  in  that  way  was  sure  to  be  more  or  less  spoiled ;  at 
any  rate  the  loss  would  be  sure  to  discourag-e  anybody.  Mr. 
Morris  seems  to  have  come  at  once  very  close  to  the  correct 
method,  and  by  frequent  trampling  down  he  expelled  suffi- 
cient air  to  very  nearly  prevent  the  forming  of  alcoholic  fer- 
mentation ;  but  if  Mr.  ]\Iorris  had  liappened  to  have  made  his 
experiment  in  such  a  way  or  in  such  a  climate  that  the  super- 
imposed earth  had  frozen  too  hard  to  settle,  it  ^^  ould  have  been 
some  time  longer  (if  ever)  before  the  world  Avould  have  lieai'd 
of  his  success.  By  such  small  accidents  are  great  discoveries 
hastened  or  retarded  in  every  field  of  evolution.  A  frozen 
arch  of  earth,  from  which  the  green-cut  forage  has  settled 
a^A'ay,  is  not  the  proper  way  to  preserve  ensilage,  as  the  writer 
has  learned  to  his  cost.  The  outdoor  silo,  as  well  as  the  in- 
door, should  be  so  made  and  covered  that  the  air  can  be  expelled 
by  continuous  pressure,  and  rain  and  surface-water  kept  out; 
anil  a  thatched  roof  will  be  found  better  than  any  other  kind. 

And  now  that  the  proper  way  has  been  found,  adapted  to 
all  countries  wherever  the  plant  can  be  grown — and  no  other 
has  a  wider  domain — and  w  Inch  is  also  adapted  to  every  other 
species  of  green  crop  that  is  capable  of  compression,  what  a 
future  seems  to  be  opening  before  the  human  race  !  If  lie  is 
held  honorable  who  causes  two  blades  of  grass  to  grow  wliere 
but  one  grew  l^efore,  how  much  more  should  we  honor  the  man 
who  has  shown  us  the  wa)^  to  make  four  animals  thrive  wliere 
scarcely  one  did  before  ?  A  cow  to  an  acre  is  a  reasonable 
result  of  the  practice  of  ensilage.  The  labor  of  mere  exist- 
ence seems  to  have  been  almost  annihilated.  Our  barns  are  to 
be  turned  upside  down,  and  our  mows  located  in  the  cellar. 

The  unlimited  production  of  meat,  butter,  cheese,  milk, 
hides,  horns,  and  all  other  animal  products,  ought  to  produce 
an  immense  increase  of  human  comfort,  population,  and  the 
knowledge,  science,  art,  cultivation,  and  refinement  that  can 
only  come  from  leisure  and  freedom  from  carking  care. 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILxiGE  OF  MAIZE.  69 

And  now,  lest  the  universal  Yankee  nation  (and  the  South- 
em  people  are  nowadays  quite  as  proportionately  ]n'olific  in 
inventions  as  the  Northern)  shall  seek  to  load  this  discovery 
with  patents  and  patent  rights,  and  patent  lawsuits,  I  would 
say  that  I  have  invented,  and  g-ive  freely  to  the  world,  every 
possible  method  of  extracting  air  from  the  ensilage,  whether 
by  suction  or  pressure,  chemical  or  mechanical  exhaustion. 
Sheathing  paper  above  the  covering  straw  beneath  the  planks, 
has  been  used  by  Mr.  Morris  with  excellent  result.  Baling, 
under  pressure  for  transportation,  with  chemically-prepared 
cloths,  has  also  been  suggested,  and  I  believe  tried. 
'tf  As  one  of  the  greatest  of  its  results,  may  we  not  look  forward 
for  a  speedy  advance  in  the  value  of  real  estate,  for  a  levelling 
up  of  the  value  of  lands  to  the  mortgages  that  rest  upon 
them?  True,  there  will  not  be  so  much  of  it  needed,  as  the 
cattle  upon  a  thousand  hills  can  be  suj^ported  in  a  few  valleys; 
but  Avith  increasing  wealth,  the  desire  of  ownership  may  return 
to  the  people  here  as  it  is  in  England.  And  as  the  happiest  of 
its  results,  may  we  not  look  forward  to  the  use  of  this  new- 
found leisure  in  the  improvement  of  our  i:)olitics,  in  the  wrest- 
ing of  all  our  governments  from  the  trading  politician,  who 
pretends  to  represent  one  constituency  while  robbing  every 
other,  and  assisting  to  rob  his  own? 

Without  a,  governing  class  or  family,  with  legislators  who 
are  patriotic  rather  than  professional,  and  with  office-holders 
who  are  servants  rather  than  rulers  of  the  people,  may  not  this 
whole  nation  look  forward  to  lighter  taxes  and  an  easier  life  as 
the  grand  ultimate  result  of  the  great  invention  of  ensilage? 
Those  of  our  people  who  have  been  driven  by  dire  necessity 
to  remove  to  Texas,  Florida,  and  other  outposts  of  civilization, 
may  return  to  live  again  in  the  older  sections  of  the  country. 
We  can  raise  cattle  in  New  York  cheaper  than  they  can  be 
driven  in  Texas  to  the  railroad  shipping  point. 

A  growth  of  farming  villages,  with  all  the  social  privileges, 
rather  than  a  stupid  life  in  scattered  farm-houses,  may  be  an- 


70  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

ticipated  as  one  of  the  happy  results  of  jireserving  the  summer 
fatness  of  our  land,  hitherto  wasted. 

The  heat  and  hurry  of  haying  will  be  avoided,  for  our 
new  crop  can  be  harvested  on  a  wet  as  well  as  on  a  dry  day. 
The  danger  of  lightning  to  the  fresh-filled  steaming  hay-barn 
will  be  avoided;  the  incendiary's  torch  will  not  avail  him 
on  this  stored  wealth ;  the  tramp,  indifferent  to  the.  danger, 
can  no  longer  smoke  his  pipe  in  the  warm  hay-mow. 

The  grass  crop  of  the  United  States  has  been  of  late  years 
esteemed  as  more  important  and  valuable  than  the  cotton  crop. 
"  Grass  is  king,"  is  sometimes  said.  But  for  half  the  year  its 
thi'one  has  been  the  dry  and  dusty  hay-mow.  How  much  more 
royal  will  be  its  position  henceforth,  when  fifty  to  one  hundred 
tons  per  acre  of  juicy  food  can  be  surely  and  safely  stored 
away  each  and  every  autumn  ?  The  cattle  fed  unlimitedly 
will  respond  with  sleek  and  well-fattened  sides,  and  the  excess 
of  supply  can  be  returned  with  little  waste  of  labor  to  the  field 
that  bore  it. 

The  simplest  and  sm-est  of  all  agricultural  processes  is 
the  production  of  the  stalk,  and  the  use  of  this  part  of  the 
plant  for  food,  except  by  gi'azing,  is  quite  modern.  Tide- 
water meadows  were  until  within  a  few  generations  the  prin- 
cipal reliance  for  winter  food  of  cattle  by  the  farmers  of  the 
Coast  States,  and  still  are  so  in  Florida  and  other  Southern 
States. 

The  ownership  of  u  tide-water  meadow  Avas  considered  a 
very  valuable  adjunct  to  any  farm;  the  farmers  along  the 
Hudson  River  made  quite  a  point  of  owning  one  not  many 
years  ago.  I  conclude  that  the  proper  winter  sustenance  of 
cattle  in  cold  climates  is  a  modem  improvement. 

It  may  be  found  that  the  increase  of  pastoral  life  (history 
repeating  itself  Avith  improvements)  is  the  sole  and  true  escape 
li-oin  tlie  cloud  of  poverty  and  misery  that  seems  to  be  settling 
down  upon  the  richest  and  oldest  as  well  as  the  poorest 
nations  of  the  earth. 


CULTURE  AM)  ENSILAGE  OF  ^LVIZK.  71 

Civilization,  pushed  too  rnjiidly  in  the  direction  of  mecha- 
nism and  commerce,  lang-uishes.  A  complement  is  needed  in  an 
improved  and  widely  adaptable  ag-ricultural  system.  At  this 
epoch  the  world  is  startled  with  the  news  of  a  method  for 
placing  untold  pastoral  wealth,  hitherto  wasted,  at  the  door  of 
every  rm-al  dweller  of  the  temperate  zones.  Does  it  not  seem 
Hke  the  harbinger  of  better  times,  with  ample  food  and  cloth- 
ing for  all  f 


COMPOSITION   OF   MAIZE   (GRAIN). 

Albuminoid     Sugar,     Cellulose      Ash 
Water.  Fat.  or  Starch  or  or 

Flesh  forming,  and  Gum.    Wood.    Minerals. 

Mass.  Golden  8-rowed 1251 

Mass.  White  Flint 1361 

Mass.  Red  Flint 1134 

Illinois 1022 

Kansas 1195 

Burr's  Sweet 1068 

Stowell's  Evergreen  Sweet.  1086         766         1110         6586         263       189 


494 

1025 

6937 

135 

158 

362 

910 

6910 

313 

135 

400 

881 

7290 

128 

107 

340 

922 

7425 

147 

144 

340 

1206 

6947 

202 

110 

777 

1169 

6270 

494 

222 

EXTRACT  FROM  AMERICAN  AGRICULTURIST,  JAN.,  1879, SHOW- 
ING THE  DISADVANTAGE  OF  DRYING  CORN-FODDER. 

Bii  the  Author  of  "Walks  and  Talks  on  the  Farm,"  "■Harris  on  tlie  Pig,"  etc. 

xV  i.AKGE  farmer  in  Michigan  writes  that  he  has  20  acres  of 
clover  Avhich  it  will  not  pay  to  mow.  He  wants  to  put  it  in 
wheat  next  fall,  and  asks,  "How  would  it  do  to  drill  in  com  for 
fodder  previously  ?  Can  it  be  cut  with  a  reaper  and  cured  in 
time  to  sow  wheat?" — I  wrote  him,  "  No."  Corn-fodder  can  be 
cut  mth  a  reaper,  better  and  far  cheaper  than  by  hand.  But 
it  cannot  be  cured  and  removed  from  the  land  in  time  for  wheat. 
Some  time  ago  I  made  a  few  stacks  of  corn-fodder  to  see  how 


72  CULTUllE  AXD  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

it  would  keep,  and  we  are  now  feeding  it.  I  cannot  recom- 
mend the  i^lan.  AVe  never  had  a  dryer  and  liotter  or  better 
time  to  cm*e  corn-fodder  than  the  past  fall.  The  fodder  was 
cut  with  a  reaper  and  made  into  sheaves  like  wheat,  and  stuck 
u])  in  small  stooks  to  cure.  Nicer  fodder  I  never  saw.  It  was 
as  dry  as  we  can  ever  hope  to  get  it.  Two  or  tlu-ee  acres  of 
it  Avas  on  low  land,  and  we  drew  oif  the  fodder  and  put  it  in 
six  or  seven  stacks.  It  was  in  prime  order.  But  it  heated  more 
or  less  in  the  stacks.  The  cows  eat  it  with  avidit}',  preferring 
it  to  hay,  but  the  sheep  do  not  like  it  as  well  as  hay,  while  the 
corn-fodder  that  is  now  standing  in  large  stooks  in  the  field  is 
highly  relished  by  the  sheep.  I  conclude,  therefore,  that  the 
only  way  to  preserve  corn-fodder  is  to  make  it  into  large  well- 
shaped  stooks  in  the  field  Avhere  it  grew,  and  di*aw  it  in  as 
wanted  during  the  winter.  Or  rather,  draw  in  enough  at  a 
time  during  favorable  weather  to  last  a  week  or  ten  days. 


FOOD  INGREDIENTS— CHEMICAL  TERMS  EXPLAINED. 

Water. — If  a  piece  of  wood  or  wisp  of  hay  be  dried  some 
time  in  a  hot  oven,  more  or  less  water  will  be  driven  oif.  The 
water  in  feeding-stuffs  varies  from  80  or  90  lbs.  in  every  100 
lbs.  of  young  grass  or  fodder-corn,  to  only  8  or  10  lbs.  to  the 
100  in  dry  straw  or  hay. 

Organie  Substance. — If  the  dried  wood  or  hay  be  burned, 
most  of  it  will  pass  off  as  gas,  vapor,  or  smoke.  The  part  thus 
burned  away  is  the  organic  substance.     The  residue, 

The  Ash  contains  the  mineral  matters — that  is,  potash, 
luue,  jDliosphoric  acid,  etc.,  of  the  plant.  The  most  important 
part  for  our  present  purpose,  is  the  organic,  the  combustible 
matter.  This  consists  of  three  kinds  of  ingredients:  albumin- 
oids, carbohydrates,  and  fats.     Tlie  main  point  in  economical 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  73 

feeding-  is  to  secure  the  right  proportions  of  these  at  the  lowest 
cost. 

Albuminoids ;  also  called  protein  compounds,  proteids  and 
flesh-formers,  contain  carbon,  oxygen,  hydrogen  and  nitrogen. 
They  thus  differ  from  the  carbohydrates  and  fats  which  con- 
tain no  nitrogen.  The  name  albuminoids  comes  from  albumen, 
which  we  know  vor)-  \xq\\  as  tlie  Avhite  of  eggs,  and  it  is  found 
in  milk.  The  fibrin  of  Ijlood  and  muscle  (lean  meat),  and  the 
casein  (curd)  of  milk,  are  also  albuminoids.  Indeed,  the  solid 
parts  of  blood,  nerves,  lean  meat,  gristle,  skin,  etc.,  consist 
chiefly  of  albuminoids.  In  plants  they  are  equally  important. 
Plant  albmiien  occurs  in  nearly  all  vegetable  juices,  especially 
in  potatoes  and  wheat,  casein  or  legumin  in  beans  and  peas, 
and  fibrin  in  the  gluten  of  wheat,  the  basis  of  what  farmer-boys 
call  "wheat  gum."  Clover,  Iwan,  beans,  peas,  oil-cake,  and 
flesh  and  meat  scrap,  are  rich  in  albuminoids. 

Carbohydrates  consist  of  carbon  and  hydrogen.  The  most 
important  are  starch,  sugar,  and  cellulose  (woody  fibre).  They 
make  up  a  larger  part  of  the  solids  of  plants,  but  only  a  little 
of  them  is  stored  in  the  animal  body.  Potatoes,  wheat,  poor 
hay,  straw,  and  corn-stalks  consist  largely  of  carbohydrates. 

Fats  have  more  carbon  than  carbohydrates,  and,  like  them, 
have  no  nitrogen.  Fat  meat,  tallow,  lard,  fish  oil,  the  fat  (but- 
ter) of  milk,  and  linseed  oil  are  familiar  examples  of  fats.  In- 
dian corn,  oil-cake,  cotton-seed  and  linseed,  are  rich  in  fatty 
matters. — From  American  Agriculturist,  Jan.,  1879. 


FARMING  FOR  PROFIT. 


The  most  profitable  farming  is  that  which  gives  the  largest 
returns  for  the  smallest  comparative  outlay.  This  statement 
is  based  on  business  principles,  but  it  is  not  always  apparently 
true,  for  sometimes  a  fanner  gets  large  crops  with  small  out- 


74  CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE. 

lay  by  the  use  of  means  which  draw  heavily  uj)()n  the  re- 
serve forces  of  the  soil.  The  latter  should  be  reckoned  into 
the  expense  account,  but  usually  is  not,  though  if  such  a  course 
is  continued,  it  results  in  exhaustion.  To  revise  the  first  state- 
ment then  :  that  kind  of  farming-  is  most  profitable  which  gives 
the  largest  returns  for  the  expense  incurred,  without  decreas- 
ing one's  capital  by  exhausting  the  soil. 

English  agricultui-e  dates  its  rise  from  the  beghming  of 
the  fattening  of  animals  for  market.  The  most  fertile  farms  in 
the  Eastern  States  to-day,  are,  as  a  rule,  those  that  are  devoted 
to  stock  and  dairy-farming.  The  production  and  sale  of  large 
crops  of  grain,  potatoes,  and  other  held  crops,  without  any  re- 
tm*n  of  fertility,  has  caused  the  present  sterility  of  the  many 
thousand  acres  of  comparatively  exhausted  farm  lands,  West, 
South,  and  East.  If  their  owners  had  kept  live  stock  for  the 
consumption  of  the  crops,  and  sold  only  the  animal  products 
and  the  surplus  grain,  etc.,  they  might  have  been  even  more 
productive  to-day  than  in  the  beginning.  The  growth  of 
plants  does  not  exhaust  the  soil,  but  on  the  contrary  makes  it 
richer,  so  long  as  the  mineral  and  nitrogenous  elements  of 
plant-food  are  returned  to  the  land.  The  action  of  the  roots 
is  to  extract  food  material  from  the  rocks  (as  we  may  regard 
the  inorganic  matter  of  the  soil),  and  of  the  leaves  to  draw  it 
from  the  air,  and  to  store  it  in  the  soil ;  but  if  more  than  the 
material  thus  obtained  is  removed  and  not  returned,  exhaustion 
necessarily  follows. 

By  feeding  crops  to  animals,  the  larger  })ortion  of  the  es- 
sential mineral  and  nitrogenous  portions  are  returned  to  the 
soil  in  the  resulting  manure ;  particularly  is  this  the  case  in 
fattening  mature  animals,  and  in  the  production  of  butter  and 
pork.  An  animal  extracts  from  its  food,  nitrogen  for  its  mus- 
cles, phos})liato  for  its  bones,  some  potash,  and  the  vegetable 
oils  and  other  carbonaceous  matter  for  its  fatty  tissues  and  for 
respiration.  The  nitrogen,  ])hosphates  and  potash,  we  must 
supply  to  the  soil,  as  plants  seldom  obtain  these  materials  from 


CULTURE  AND  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  75 

natural  sources  so  rapidly  as  we  remove  them  in  crops  sold ; 
the  material  for  oils,  sugar,  starch,  and  other  carbonaceous 
matters  are  furnished  to  the  plants  from  air  and  soil  in  ample 
quantities  to  meet  all  demands.  Now,  a  growing  animal  stores 
up  the  first  tlu'ee  of  these  food  materials.  A  mature  animal, 
on  the  contrary,  only  uses  enough  of  them  to  make  good  the 
wastes  of  the  body,  but  these  wastes  are  all  found  in  the  ex- 
crements ;  so  that  practically  a  fattening  animal  removes  none 
of  those  constituents  of  its  food  that  are  valuable  for  manure. 
"We  can,  therefore,  feed  the  home-grown  crops  and  purchased 
food  to  matm-e  animals,  and  get  nearly  or  quite  its  full  value 
twice  over,  in  beef  and  in  manure  for  the  production  of  more 
crops. 

►Similar  principles  apply  in  feeding  swine.  Pork  is  for  the 
most  part  composed  of  the  fatty  matter  which  costs  nothing  in 
the  crop.  Hence  the  value  of  hog-manure,  with  which  every 
farmer  is  familiar.  In  butter-making  also,  very  little  if  any 
fertility  is  removed  fi'om  the  farm  in  the  butter  sold,  at  it  is 
composed  wholly  of  fatty  compounds.  This  fact  is  illustrated 
in  practice  by  the  exceptional  fertility  of  butter  dairy  farms, 
which,  instead  of  becoming  sterile  are  continually  growing 
more  fertile.  These  facts  indicate  that  the  profitable  farming 
of  the  futm-e  in  many  sections,  is  to  be,  as  it  is  to-day,  in  in- 
creased attention  to  fattening  animals  and  dairying. — From 
American  Agricidtarist,  Jan.,  1879. 


^^c-; 


.:„   ''^'^j.^  J"^*  ''°''der   plant  may  be    f.)und  to  be    even  more  productive  than    the  corn-plant,  on  account  of  the  several  cut- 
tings that  may  be    made  in  one  season.     If  properly  ensilajrea  it  will  doubtless  be   more  attractive    and  nutritious    than  if 


.    -  ,  ,    ..  -    ie  in  one  season.     If  properly  ensilaifed  it  will 

dried  :  and  the  same  method  will  undoubtedly  preserve  this  also. 

p  I  v«°iV""?  '"■'"^'^  'S  f""""!  the  pen  of  the  well-known  Hortici.lturist,  Peter  Henderson: 
■•  R„.?^,-,  »!iMi  l"?.'.";'^"  cultivated  for  some  years  as  a  toraire  plant  in  some  of  the  Southern  States,  as  "African  Cane," 
tgyptian  Millet.  Japan  Mill.t."  and  in  some  places  as  "Horse  Millet,"  but  little  was  known  of  it  at  the  North  be- 
fore last  year  and  then  only  in  such  small  quantitfes  as  to  hardly  allow  of  a  fair  trial.  From  what  we  saw  of  it  in  1877, 
we  determined  to  give  it  a  thorough  trial  this  season.  A  piece  of  good  strong  loamy  ground  was  prepared  as  if  for  a  beet 
?L  hJJl]S.,?.iy'  ^l  '"«'\"m"."^  "■' u  stable-manure,  at  the  rate  of  10  tons  to  the  acre,  plowing  10  inches  deep,  and  thorough- 
^I     f  M  "^-    ■  ^''"*'  ^^"^  J"""  ^°"'"  '"  ^""^  '8    '""=''«'  "P'"'''  "«  ""=  "'e  '>'■  8  quarts  to  the  acre.     We  sowed  on  the 

iStn  ot  May:     in  i2  days  the  plants  were    up  so  that    a  cultivator   could  be  run    between  the  rows,  after  which  no  further 
culture  was  necessary,  for  the  growth  became  so  rapid  and  luxuriant  as  to  ci       "    ' 


foothold.    The  first  cutting  was  made  July  1st— 45  days  after  ; 
3  inches  above  the  ground,  we'     ' 


as  to  crowd  down  every   weed  that  attempted   .  -  „  _  - 
g;  itwas  then  7f2et    high,  covering  the  whole  ground, 
ghed,  £"""".  at  the  rate  of  30  tons  per  acre  ;    this,  wl  en  rfricrf,  gave  6^ 
owth   started,  and  was  cut   August  15—45  days  from   tin.e  of  the  first  cut- 
...  ..,-  ,  „,  -  ,     -e  at  the   rate  of  55  tons  to  the  acre,  ^r.'.-H,  and  8  tons  dried.    The //(iVrf 

crop  started  as  rapidly  as    the  second,  but    the  cool  September   nights   lessened   its  tropical    luxuriance,  so  that  this  crop, 
which  was  cut  on  October  1st,  only  weighed  10  tons  green,  and   i^  ton  dried.      The  growth  was  simply  enormous,  thu 


and  thi 

tons  per  .icre  as  hay.     After  cutting,  a  second 
.ting.    Its  height  was  9  feet ;    it  weighed  this  I 


,  ...     .  ..     ,  ,      .  ,  .  -t  greedily,  whether  green  or  dry.     Ifsowing 

in  ilrilis  IS  not  practicable.  It  may  be  sown  broadcast,  using  double  the  quantity  of  seed— say  i6  quarts  per  acre.  The 
grouiul  should  be  smoothed  by  the  harrow,  and  again  lightly  harrowed  after  sowing  ;  if  rolled  after  harrowing,  all  the  bet- 
ter. I  know  of  no  farm  crop  that  will  better  repay  high  manuring,  but  so  great  is  its  luxuriance,  that  it  will  produce  a 
better  crop  without  manure  than  any  other  plant  I  know  of.  In  those  parts  of  the  Southern  States  where  hay  cannot  be 
raised,  this  is  a  substitute  of  the  easiest  culture,  and  being  of  tropical  origin,  it  will  luxuriate  in  their  long  hot  summers, 
hven  though  our  Northern  seasons  may  be  too  short  to  mature  the  seeds,  our  experiments  in  New  Jersey  this  summer 
show  *hat  abundant  crops  may  be  expected  if  the  similar  conditions  are  secured.  Pearl  Millet  as  a  fodder-plant  presents 
a  new  feature  in  our  agriculture,  and  1  feel  sure  that  within  ten  years  we  shall  wonder  how  we  ever  got  on  without  it. 
Besides  our  own  testimony  given  above,  we  have  received  the  most  satisfactory  letters  from  experienced  men  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  country  to  whom  we  sent  seed  of  Pe.arl  Millet  for  trial,  and  all  are  unanimous  .is  to  its  enormous  produc- 
tiveness and  great  value.  From  all  we  have  seen  and  can  learn,  wc  are  fully  convinced  that  Pearl  Millet  is  to  be  one  of 
the  great  fodder  plants  of  the  future. 


THE    ENSILAGE    CUTTER 


OF  THK  NEW  YORK  PLOW  COMPANY. 


This  machine  has  beeu  anauged  especially  for  the  puipose  of  cut- 
ting- large  quantities  of  green  crops,  such  as  green  corn-stalks,  millet, 
&c.  It  can  be  run  witli  a  good  two-horse  i)o\ver  or  with  iiortable 
engine,  and  do  a  great  ainonnt  of  work. 

Of  coarse  smaller  cutters  (;au  be  used,  with  more  or  less  execution, 
but  in  providing  the  proper  machinery  for  the  new  method  of  preserving 
winter  fodder,  it  is  all  imi)ortant  to  have  it  operate  rnpidly,  and  there- 
fore economically. 

Tiiis  machine  feeds  itself,  without  dang'er  to  the  o])erator,  and  is  so 
strong-  that  it  cannot  bo  broken  or  worn  out  with  h;)nest  usage.  It 
will  cut  seven  ditterent  lengths,  from  -rb-  to  3  inches,  by  changing  the 
jmlleys  in  accordance  with  the  directions  attached.  It  will  cut  four  to 
live  tons  per  hour  of  green  corn-stalks  of  the  length  of  -i'imt  of  an  inch. 
It  will  also  cut  one  to  two  tons  per  hour  of  dry  fodder.  It  is  also  vah^ 
able  iu  cutting  straw  to  spread  upon  land  for  manure. 


THE  ENSILAGE  CUTTER. 

INSTRUCTIONS  FOR   CUTTING  FODDER  DIFFERENT  LENGTHS. 

AU  tlie  pulleys  in  this  list  go  on  the  end  of  pulley  shaft  next  to  12i-in<h  pulley. 
2i  inch  pulley -will  make  the  uiiiehine  cut  i  of  nniiieli  Ionic. 

il      "  "  '•  ••  42-1(10    "  •" 

9|     "        "  "  ••  linch 

12J     "         "  "  "  2  iiiflies        " 

The  machine  is  set  up  to  put  42-ino  of  an  inch  long. 

Further  information  supplied  ty  the  NEW  YORK  PLOW  COMPANT,  55  Beekman  St.,  New 


York, 


RECENT   IMPROVEMENTS    IN    PLOWS. 

The  improved  American  plow  holds  a  liig-h  rank  among 
the  implements  of  modern  husbandry,  not  only  at  home,  but 
in  the  foreign  market.  In  form,  materials  and  construction,  it 
appears  to  be  all  that  it  is  capable  of  being,  and  yet  there  are 
constant  developments  of  new  points  of  excellence.  The  most 
obvious  improvements  within  the  last  few  years  consist  in  the 
use  of  hard  metal,  iu'st  for  the  edge,  and  later  for  the  entire 
wearing  surface.  Chilling  the  edges  and  point  of  the  share 
and  the  bottom  of  the  land-side,  was  the  first  step  in  the  line 
of  progress,  made  about  thirty  years  ago,  l3ut  within  the  last 
ten  years  attention  has  been  directed  to  the  importance  of  re- 
ducing the  friction  of  the  mold-board.  Hardened  steel  was  in- 
troduced for  this  pui'pose,  and  is  still  recognized  as  the  best  ma- 
terial where  soil  is  wholly  free  from  grit,  but  it  was  found  that 
a  chilled  sui-face  of  cast  iron,  in  combination  with  the  chilled 
share  and  land-side,  was  more  easily  and  economically  kept 
in  repair  in  all  soils  containing  grit.  The  well-known  process 
of  chilling  first  resorted  to,  consisted  in  rmining  the  molten 
metal  against  the  surface  of  cold  iron.  This  method,  while 
rendering  the  metal  harder,  made  it  correspondingly  brittle, 
and  required  great  care  in  the  mixture  of  the  iron  to  make  the 
chill  penetrate  uniformly.  This  plan  also  required  a  method 
of  annealing,  sometimes  with  hot  water,  or  by  building  fires 
on  the  back  of  the  mold-board,  and  sometimes  by  covering 
with  heated  sand. 

Later  improvements  in  mixing  metal  have  been  success- 
fully made,  so  as  to  secure  entire  hardness  throughout,  without 
the  chilling  process.  Plows  made  in  this  way  are  usually 
known  by  appropriate  names,  such  as  "  Adamant,"  &c.  We 
learn   through  a  large   plow-making    establishment   in    New 


RECENT  IMPROVEMENTS  IN  PLOWS.  79 

York  (the  New  York  Plow  Company),  that  long  experience 
has  tang-ht  them  that  steel  in  a  certain  condition  will  mix  with 
melted  pig  iron,  and  with  the  addition  of  certain  chemicals 
will  make  a  homogeneous  metal  by  pouring  it  into  molds  at 
the  right  time,  which  time  is  ascertained  by  means  of  its  color. 
In  this  way  the  result  is  "hardness,  uniformity  and  strength." 

In  former  years,  plo^^•s  made  of  cast  iron  were  so  rough 
that  farmers  were  severel}'  tried  in  keeping  them  bright.  As 
plows  have  grown  harder,  the  polish  is  more  difficult  to  pro- 
duce, as  well  as  more  durable,  and  on  the  metal  here  referred 
to,  is  said  to  suffer  little  from  corrosion.  As  the  friction  of 
the  plow  is  equal  to  about  thirty -live  per  cent  of  the  whole 
force  of  the  draught,  every  expedient  to  reduce  it  is  important 
to  the  plowman. 

.V  still  better  improvement  in  this  direction  was  recently 
achieved  by  the  introduction  of  a  reversible  point  in  the  share, 
which  thus  becomes  self-shai'pening,  and  enables  the  farmer  to 
keep  the  bottom  of  the  plow  level,  there- 
by avoiding  the  friction  that  arises  from  a 
projection  of  the  point  of  the  share  below 
the  general  level.  It  has  been  found  that 
the  effect  of  a  sharp  point  is  to  sharpen 
the  wing  also.  Among  other  improve- 
ments is  the  setting  of  the  beam  in  the 
centre  instead  of  one  side  of  the  line  of 
resistance,  which  is  adjustable  at  the  standard  so  as  to  produce 
a  balance,  avoiding  side  draughts. — From  Iron  Age. 

N.  B. — All  these  improvements  are  contained  in  the 
Adamant  Plows  of  the  New  York  Plow  Company. 


;S  'to 


■-5  ° 


O 

o 
c 

C 


^^  M 


a  o  ?c 


■«    tjD  M 


O  0  lit 
O 


.2  .5  " 


.2  ^  'i° 

"So   G  S 

•^  ^  i 

=3    S  £ 


JUNE  1,  1879 


To  ACCOMPANY  "ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE,"  by  J.  B.  BROWN, 
55  Beekman  Street,  New  York. 


EXTRACT  FRO]\[  JOURNAL  DE  L'AGRICULTURE, 

OCTORER  19,   1878. 

M.  A.  GoFFART,  desirous  of  making  kuowii  the  remarkable  results  that  lie  l>as  ob- 
tained from  the  cultivation  and  preservation  of  maize-forage,  invited  to  his  celebrated 
farm  at  Burtiii,  on  Oct.  12,  many  agriculturists  who  are  interested  in  this  important 
question.  A  hundred  accepted  liis  invitation,  and  they  received  at  Burtin  the  most 
generous  hospitality.  Among  those  present  we  should  mention  the  Prince  Catacuzene, 
alarge  agriculturist  of  Southern  Russia  and  Russian  Commissioner  to  the  Exposition  ; 
M.  Fernandez  de  Neda,  Commissioner  from  Spain  ;  M.  Rob  Runeberg,  Commissioner 
from  Finland;  M.  Deiitch,  large  agriculturist  in  Hungary;  M.  Boitel,  Inspector -Gen- 
eral of  Agriculture  of  France  ;  M.  J.  A.  Banal,  Secretary  of  National  Society  of  Agri- 
culture of  France;  and  the  officers  of  eight  other  agricultural  societies  of  France. 
There  were  also  a  director  of  a  school-farm,  a  director  of  a  penal  colony,  proprietors 
of  estates  in  difl^erent  parts  of  France,  mayors  of  cities,  manufacturers  of  agricultural 
uiacliinery  ;  also  Monsieur  de  Fonteiiailies,  a  distinguished  silvi-cultivator  (forest  tree 
cultivator,  a  brancli  of  industry  now  attracting  much  attention  in  Europe,  as  a  re- 
medy for  drought).  We  left  Paris  in  tlie  morning  by  special  train  to  Nouan-le-Fuze- 
lier.  A  few  minutes'  ride  bj'  carriage  and  we  are  at  Burtin,  where  a  magnificent  ban- 
quet, prepared  under  an  elegant  tent,  awaits  the  guests.  The  first  toast  is  to  M.  Gof- 
fart,  the  last  to  Sologne,  "too  little  known,  and  which  tlie  skillful  pioneers  of  the 
thirty  years  last  past  have  so  happily  transformed."  After  the  banquet  came  the 
more  important  business.  The  operation  of  gathering  and  ensilaging  the  maize  had 
been  under  way  for  several  days.  Otic  of  the  silos  was  already  full,  the  second  was 
lieing  tilled.  The  gigantic  maize  is  brought  from  the  field  in  wagons,  which  stop  just 
behind  the  feed-cnlter.  The  stalks  are  fed  to  the  machine,  which  is  run  by  a  steam- 
engine.  They  are  cut  into  disks  of  one  centimetre  long  (about  4-10  inch),  and  car- 
ried by  an  elevator  above  the  wall  of  tlie  silo,  and  fall  within  it.  A  man  spi-eads  the 
layer,  a  woman  tramples  around  the  silo.  When  it  is  full  it  will  be  covered  with 
plank,  which  will  be  loaded  with  large  stones  about  400  kilogrammes  (about  900  lbs.) 
per  square  metre  (about  lOi  square  feet).  It  will  be  perfectly  preserved,  without  fer- 
mentation, until  the  time  when  it  is  needed  for  use.  In  the  month  of  May  we  took 
from  the  last  silo  at  Burtin  the  last  layer  of  maize.  It  had  the  same  temperature  that 
it  had  at  the  time  of  ensilage,  and  it  presented  not  a  trace  of  any  deterioration. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  result  will  be  the  same  this  year.     All  the  agriculturists 


82  ADDENDA    TO 


who  have  followed  exactly  the  directions  of  M.  Goflfart  have  obtained  the  same  re- 
sult, and  their  numerous  testimonials  bear  witness  to  it.  (For  full  description  of  M. 
Gofiart's  process,  see  Ensilage  of  Maize,  &c.)  There  are  three  silos  for  maize,  aud  one 
for  oats,  cut  green,  which  was  filled  in  the  Spring,  and  which  has  been  fed  out  to 
the  working  animals. 

M.  Goffart  has  to-day  G8  horned  cattle  in  his  stables,  six  horses,  and  one  mule. 
With  his  resources  of  maize  fodder,  he  can  not  only  support  for  seven  months  150 
horned  cattle,  but  also  put  them  in  condition  for  the  butcher,  upon  32  hectares  (about 
79  acres).  After  having  visited  the  fields  of  maize,  the  numerous  guests  departed,  de- 
lighted with  what  they  had  seen. 


THE  CULTIVATION  AND  PRESERVATION  OF  MAIZE-FODDER. 

Letter  from  Monsieur  A.  Goffart,  April  28,  1878. 

My  last  silo,  more  than  300  cubic  metres  in  capacity,  will  be  emptied  by  May 
10th.  You  will  remember  how  my  frosted  maize  last  September  bad  to  be  cut  as 
quickly  as  possible,  when  it  had  only  attained  two-thirds  of  its  growth.  The  frost  had 
completely  stopped  its  growth,  and  the  blackened  stalks  would  have  fallen  to  the 
ground  at  the  first  rain.  I  cut  it,  as  I  always  do,  one  centimetre  (about  4-10  inch) 
fong,  and  I  ensilaged  it  without  any  addition  of  salt  or  straw  or  cut  hay.  The  preser- 
vation has  been,  aud  is  stiU,  jper/ict;  not  a  kilogramme  of  it  has  been  wasted.  Hav- 
ing been  cut  when  so  very  young,  it  has  produced  a  very  tender  fodder,  the  nutritive 
power  of  which  was  evidently  superior  to  that  of  my  previous  ensihige.  The  question 
arises,  whether  this  increase  of  nutritive  value  compensates  lor  the  loss  of  weight  in 
a  crop  cut  prematurely.  I  do  not  think  it  does.  It  would  need  to  be  30  per  cent,  at 
least  superior  to  that  of  maize  cut  when  the  ear  is  in  the  milky  state,  for  the  loss  of 
weight  is  at  least  in  that  proportion. 

Comparative  experiments  and  analyses  of  our  skillful  chemists  will  soon  enlighten 
us  on  this  important  subject. 

Another  very  remarkable  effect  upon  ensilage  by  frosted  vegetation  is  this  :  while 
maize  ensilaged  in  ordinary  condition  takes  on  the  alcoholic  fermentation  in  twelve  to 
fifteen  hours  after  contact  with  the  air,  the  frosted  maize  required  two,  and  some- 
times three  days.  The  farmer,  therefore,  need  not  be  alarmed  at  these  premature 
frosts,  but  should  be  ready  to  ensilage  his  crop  immediately  up'>»  their  appearance.  I 
find  that  the  tall  Mexican  corn  becomes  exceedingly  hard,  and  quickly  dulls  the 
knives  of  the  cutting  machine.     I  shall  not  use  that  kind  again. 

Feb.  1,  187'J.— I  now  give  you  the  facts  whicli  I  have  gained  from  the  experience  of 
the  past  year,  at  my  farm  at  Burtiu.  I  find  that  I  was  mistaken  when  I  advised  that 
tlie  silo  should  be  filled  as  quickly  as  possible.  The  shrinkage  or  subsidence  which 
takes  place  in  the  first  lew  days  of  the  compression,  is  so  considerable  that  the  upper 
half  of  our  silos  are  soon  empty,  and  therefore  we  lose  one-half  of  the  capacity,  aud 
the  expense  of  establishing  them  is  just  doubled.  I  now  advise  that  the  silos  should 
not  be  filled  too  quickly.     In  recharging  a  silo  tliat  has  been  commenced  with  a  layer 


THE    ENSILAGE    OF    MAIZE.  83 


of  fresh  maize  of  fifty  centimetres  (20  inclies)  each  day,  you  will  keep  sufficiently  ahead 
of  the  fermentation  during  tlie  ensilage,  and  the  spontaneous  slirinkage  will  liave  been 
sufficient  at  the  end  of  eight  or  ten  days,  of  daily  refilling,  so  that  th(?  subsequent  subsi- 
dence will  not  exceed  one-tenth  of  the  total  height.  My  silos,  filled  this  Autumn,  are 
uiore  than  five  metres  high,  and  only  show  a  void  at  the  top  of  half  a  metre.  By  hav- 
ing two  or  several  silos  of  a  certain  capacity,  the  work  can  go  on  continuously.  Some 
farmers  have  ensilaged  this  year  100,000  to  120,000  kilogrammes  per  day  (220,000  to 
2(54,000  lbs.). 

My  maize  is  cut  in  the  field  by  women,  with  sickles.  Tliey  have  great  skill  in  the 
use  of  that  implement,  and  eight  women  will  cut  easily  one  hectare  a  day  (2^  acres). 
They  receive  15  francs  per  hectare,  and  therefore  earn  about  two  francs  a  day  each.  I 
found  a  difficulty  in  roofing  over  my  three  united  silos,  on  account  of  the  great  size  of 
the  group  thus  formed.  On  this  account  I  would  prefer  to  unite  only  two  silos,  and  in- 
crease tlie  length,  wliile  preserving  the  other  dimensions,  so  as  to  obtain  the  same 
capacity.  Something  would  be  gained  also  by  replacing  the  semicircular  ends  with 
arcs  of  a  circle  of  a  greater  radius,  which  would  diminish  the  expense  of  roofing,  and 
increase  the  capacity,  without,  I  think,  endangering  the  preservation  of  the  maize. 

The  proximity  of  the  silos  to  tiie  stables  is  important,  as  to  ec(nu)my  of  labor,  but 
it  is  an  advantage  sometimes  to  put  them  at  a  distance,  as  the  laiul  may  be  more  suit- 
able. The  solidity  and  the  smooth  working  of  the  (fitting machine  are  of  great  im- 
portance. The  French  machine,  with  eight  horse-power,  will  cut  100,000  to  120,000 
kilogrammes  per  day,  in  pieces  of  one  centimetre  long  (4-10  inch),  and  costs  800  francs. 
If  water  invades  a  silo,  whether  it  enters  from  without  or  from  compression  upon 
nuiize  that  is  very  wet  at  time  of  eusihige,  it  should  not  be  wasted  ;  cattle  will  drink 
that  kind  of  grass-soup  with  great  avidity. 

When  I  opened,  last  October,  the  silo  in  which   I  had  enclosed  in  May  about  GO,- 

000  kilogrammes  of  green  rj'e,  I  ibund  it  darker  in  color  tiian  usual,  and  it  exhaled  a 
disagreeable  odor,  indicating  the  presence  of  butyric  acid.  Although  this  odor  is  dis- 
agreeable to  man,  it  does  not  cause  to  animals  the  same  repugnance,  and  my  rye  was 
eaten  entirelj^,  and  without  the  least  hesitation.  Never  before  had  my  ensilaged  rye 
presented  this  kind  of  alteration.  The  alcoholic  fermentation,  though  less  than  in 
maize,  had  always  before  developed  sufficiently  to  make  it  agreeable,  both  in  taste 
and  smell,  to  both  man  and  beast. 

There  was,  therefore,  an  abnormal  eft'ect,  a  special  alteration,  which  it  is  import- 
ant to  avoid,  since,  when  it  passes  certain  limits,  it  will  disgust  the  animals  and  also 
injure  their  health,  if  we  persist  in  feeding  it  to  them.  At  the  time  this  rye  was  cut 
down  for  ensilage  it  had  hcea  fallen  for  a  long  time,  and  the  foot  for  more  than  eight 
inches  had  yellowed  ;  it  was  already  uudergoing  tlie  commeucementof  decomposition. 
To  prevent  this  I  used  salt  in  considerable  quantity,  but  it  had  not  served  to  neutral- 
ize the  effect  of  the  evil;  the  butyric  fermentation  had  already  invaded  the  ensilaged 
vegetation,  and  this  fermentation  remained,  notwithstanding  the  presence  of  the  salt. 

1  believe,  however,  that  in  this  case  salt  was  useful,  suspending  by  its  antiseptic 
qualities  the  decompositiou,  and  assisting  to  excite  the  appetite  of  the  animals,  who, 
perhaps,  without  the  salt,  would  have  refused  it,  since  the  more  important  condiment, 
alcohol,  was  absent. 

I  ensilaged  in  September  several  wagon  loads  of  clover  that  was  fully  ripe  and 
liad  fallen  for  several  weeks,  and  though  I  took  special  care  with  it,  and  compressed 
it  very  energetically,  and  mixed  salt  with  it,  viz.,  3  kilogrammes  to  the  thousand,  on 
discharging  the  silo  at  the  end  of  December,  I  fomul  a  blackened  mass,  viscous,  and 
nearly  insipid. 


84  ADDENDA    1^0 


This  ensilage  was  entirely  eaten  by  the  animals  without  any  aversion,  but  it 
quickly  contracted  butyric  acid,  and  if  it  had  been  exposed  to  the  air  for  a  consider- 
able time  the  animals  would  have  manifested  an  increasing  aversion,  and  finished  by 
refusing  to  eat  it.  I  have  frequently  observed  tiiis  in  ensilaging  whole  maize.  I  give 
this  explanation  with  hesitation,  because  so  nmcii  obscurity  still  rests  upon  the  science 
of  fermentations.  When  the  butyric  fermentation  permeates  an  ensilaged  mass,  and 
this  mass  is  exposed  to  the  air,  does  there  not  form,  to  the  detriment  of  the  nitrogen 
contained  in  tliat  mass,  a  liberation  of  butyrate  of  animonia,  which  impovcrislu's  the 
alimentary  matter  and  finishes  bj^  taking  away  all  its  nutritive  power?  The  animals 
thereupon  refuse  to  take  into  their  stomachs  a  food  which  is  fictitious,  its  nouiishni(^nt 
being  exhausted. 

Vegetation  which  has  been  attacked  by  butyric  acid,  before  cutting,  in  the  field, 
needs  also  to  be  covered  and  compressed  at  once,  or  the  air  that  is  not  expelled  will 
increase  the  activity  of  the  i)re-existing  acid.  Prickly  comfrey-,  notwithstanding  great 
pains  t.iken,  I  have  found  refractory  to  alcoholic  fermentation,  and  when  exposed  to 
the  air  quickly  becimies  invaded  by  butyric  acid,  requiring  quick  consumption  in 
order  to  save  it.  While  this  plant  is  a  very  excellent  fodder,  it  is  well  known  to  be 
poor  in  saccharine  matter.  Therefore,  alcoholic  fermentation  may  fail  in  two  cases  : 
when  sugar  is  not  aliundant  in  the  ensilaged  material ;  when  a  considerable  altera- 
tion existing  at  the  time  of  ensilage  prevents  its  development. 


EXTRACT  FROM  A  LETTER  OF  M.  De  BEAUQUESNE, 

One    of   the    Most   Distinguished    Agrigultukists    of    France. 

December  17,  1878. 

"  I  am  i)repaving  a  series  of  articles  on  ensilage.  I  seiul  you  the  part  relative  to  the 
cost.  I  have  a  feed-cutter,  with  three  knives,  cost  800  francs  (|1()0).  I  tie  the  stalks 
in  bundles  of  about  10  kilogrammes,  using  for  that  one  of  the  stalks.  Two  men  take 
the  maize  from  the  uuloaders  and  place  it  on  a  narrow  table  prolonging  the  box  of  the 
cutter;  another  man  pa'sses  it  along  to  the  man  that  feeds  it  to  the  machine.  I  have 
two  men  in  the  silo.     Thus  I  make  the  cost : 

Five  laborers  at  :15  cents SI  75 

One  mechanic  at  cutter ;'>() 

One  engineer 70 

Coal,  :330  lbs 1  50 

Oil 15 

Use  of  engine 2  00 

Use  of  feed-cutter 1  00 

Incidentals 40 

$8  00 


THE    ENSILAGE    OF    ]\[AIZE.  85 


"  Ten  bundles  pass  easily  per  minute,  making  225  lbs.  or  13,500  lbs.  per  bonr  ;  but 
as  tbere  is  time  lost  in  oiling  and  examining  knives  and  removing  them  to  sharpen,  I 
only  reckon  9,000  lbs.  per  lionr  as  regnlar  resnlt.  This  gives  a  net  cost  of  20  events  per 
2,250  lbs.  (V;  n^est  ruin.  I  have  not  tried  with  a  horse- power,  but  I  have  it  from  a 
ueighbor  that  it  costs  60  cents  for  2,250  lbs.  This  is  still  endurable.  I  am  about  to 
make  an  experiment  to  determine  the  comparative  uutritive  value  of  hay  and  ensi- 
bvge.  One  of  my  milch  cows  has  fed  a  montii  on  the  latter.  I  believe  that  its  nutri- 
tive value  is  more  tliaii  one-third,  nnd  I  sliall  not  be  surprised  if  220  lbs.  of  maize  are 
vrortli  at  least  110  lbs.  of  hay,  and  probably  more. 

'■  I  have  just  let  a  farm  on  shares,  and  the  ptirty  stipulated  that  I  should  let  to  him 
my  steam-engine  and  feed-cutter,  because  there  was  a  silo,  and  it  -was  only  for  that 
reason  that  he  took  the  place.  I  say  frankly  that  I  believe  we  have  made  a  uiistake 
in  our  successive  plantings  of  maize,  in  order  to  feed  it  green.  It  would  do  better  to 
harvest  it  all  at  the  same  time,  and  ensilage  it  all.  Tliere  would  be  moi-e  economy, 
and  the  maize  that  we  should  use,  after  being  tiiree  weeks  in  the  silo,  would  be  m<ue 
nourishing.  I  shall  do  it  so  next  season.  The  later  planting  often  gives  bad  results, 
and  the  ground  is  not  so  easily  worked." 

Monsieur  Gotfart  remarks  upon  this  letter  :  "  My  ensilages  the  past  year  reached 
more  than  132,000  lbs.  per  day,  and  the  cost  per  ton  was  25  per  cent,  less  than  bis 
figures,  which  can  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  my  machinery  was  more  powerful 
than  his. 

"  I  agree  with  M.  de  Beamiuesne  as  to  the  relative  value  of  ensilaged  maize  and 
hay.  Ensilaged  maize  at  Burtin  is  worth  in  nutritive  power  one-half  that  of  hay  ; 
but  our  hay  in  Sologne  is  poor,  and  in  other  countries  the  relative  value  of  maize  may 
decline  to  one-third. 

"M.  de  Beauquesne,  after  giving  in  detail  the  diiferent  expenses  of  ensilage, 
adds,  'it  is  nothing.'  I  will  go  farther  than  he,  and  I  will  say,  this  expense  consti- 
tutes a  considerable  saving.  The  expense  of  cutting  and  ensilaging  a  million  of  kilo- 
grammes of  maize  is,  at  most,  a  thousand  francs.  Instead  of  proceeding,  from  day 
to  day,  to  cut  up  tlie  maize  for  the  day's  sustenance  of  your  animals,  you  prepare  in 
15  days  the  food  for  200  days  ;  you  have  put  your  maize  in  such  a  condition  that  the 
stable-man  has  no  other  trouble  but  to  fill  his  basket  in  the  silo  and  empty  it  in  the 
manger.     Here  are  some  figures  in  proof  of  this  statement. 

"  On  a  farm  in  the  valley  of  the  Loire  are  fattened  each  winter  a  certain  number 
of  animals,  with  beets,  hay,  and  oil  meal.  Twelve  animals  on  this  diet  require  the 
steady  work  of  a  strong  laborer,  who  washes  and  cuts  the  beets  and  chops  the  hay 
or  straw.  Tiiis  laborer  is  paid  45  cents  per  day.  He  receives,  therefore,  3|  cents  per 
head.  At  Burtin,  witii  the  ensilage  at  three  steps  from  the  stable,  two  men,  at  the 
same  wages,  take  care  of  80  animals,  making  a  daily  expense  of  Is  cents  per  head.  The 
difference  in  favor  of  Bnrtiu  is  more  than  10  francs  per  day,  and  this  saving  is  more 
than  double  the  sum  expended  for  ensilage. 

"  The  last  paragraph  of  tlie  letter,  relative  to  the  advantage  of  feeding  only  en- 
silaged maize,  even  in  summer,  agrees  perfectly  with  my  ideas.  I  wrote  in  1875,  in 
one  of  my  pamphlets,  '  It  should  never  be  lost  sight  of  that  to  cut,  and  to  ensilage 
in  a  way  to  obtain  a  good  fermentation,  is  to  increase  enormously  the  alimentary 
value  of  maize;  and  I  ask  if,  even  in  autumn,  when  the  fresh  maize  is  abundant,  it 
would  not  be  an  advantage  to  pass  it  through  the  silo.' 

"  In  order  to  settle  this  question  careful  and  intelligent  experiments  are  necessary, 
and  no  one  is  better  able  to  resolve  it  with  authority  than  M.  de  Beauquesne." 


86  ADDENDA    TO 


FRO.A[    i\I.    GOFFART'S    SECOND   EDITION. 

Great  care  shoiiUl  be  taken  in  the  construction  of  silos.  The  walls  ehouUl  be 
capable  ot  resisting  the  pressure  Ironi  the  loaded  mass  when  lull,  and  from  the  sur- 
rounding earth  wlieu  empty.  Too  much  economy  in  their  construction  is  unprofitable. 
When  the  underground  portion  is  cemented  (which  costs  only  half  as  much  as  brick 
wall),  great  care  should  be  taken  as  to  the  material  as  well  as  the  worknnmship. 
Those  who  have  a  convenient  declivity  can  save  much  expense  by  building  the  silo 
so  that  the  upper  portion  will  be  level  with  a  platform  on  which  the  loads  can  be  dis- 
charo-ed,  and  on  which  the  cutter  can  be  set  up,  so  that  the  cut  fodder  can  fall  into 
the  silo,  thereby  avoiding  the  expense  and  use  of  an  elevator.  The  entrance  to  each 
silo  I  formerly  closed  with  boards  fitted  in  grooves  in  the  masonry,  but  I  now  close 
them  with  a  temptuary  wall  of  dry  masonry  plastered  inside,  to  be  retnoved  when  the 
silo  is  opened  for  use.     One  hour  of  a  mason  to  each  port  is  suffleifnt. 

The  most  important  question  is  the  covering  of  the  ensilage.  It  should  be  a  layer 
of  dry  straw  not  cut,  six  to  twelve  inches  thick,  spread  evenly.  Do  not  use  aftermath 
or  short,  soft  straw,  as  it  is  liable  to  become  impermeable  and  to  imi)risoii  any  vapor 
which  may  issue.  Rye  straw  is  best ;  after  that,  wheat  and  oat.  It  is  important  that 
the  vapor  should  escape,  as  there  always  will  be  more  or  less  from  the  upper  portion 
of  the  mass. 

Boards  are  more  suitable  than  planks  to  lay  upon  this,  because  they  conform  more 
readily  to  the  inequalities  of  the  surface  in  settling  ;  the  centre  always  becomes  more 
depressed  than  the  portions  near  the  walls.  But  I  expect  to  use  bricks  instead  of 
boards,  so  as  to  form  a  compact  layer,  and  of  sufficient  height  to  give  the  necessary 
weight.  Iron  weights  Avith  a  ring  cast  in  will  be  still  better,  in  those  countries  wherj 
iron  is  cheap,  on  account  of  convenience  of  handling.  AVhen  removed  they  should 
not  be  thrown  down,  but  piled  on  the  walls.  I  shall  also  use  sacks  of  phosphates  in- 
tended for  manure. 


EXTRACT  FROM   A   LETTER   FROM   M.  GOFFART, 
May   13,  1879. 

The  fields  of  France  present  at  this  time  a  sad  aspect.  AVe  shall  apparently  har- 
vest in  1879  little  hay  and  very  little  grain.  I  have  lost  by  water  all  the  rye  that  I 
intended  to  feed  green  tliis  spring,  but  I  find  that  I  have  sufficient  ensilage  to  last  till 
August.  I  have  fattened  this  winter  43  animals,  which  I  have  sold  in  the  markets  of 
Paris  anc'i  Orleans.  They  are  of  the  large  races  of  Niveriiaise  and  Charolaise,  and 
have  averaged  l,c;OU  lbs.  I  added  to  their  rations  of  ensilaged  maize  10  per  cent  of 
palm,  peanut  or  cotton-seed  cake.  I  feed  also  2^  lbs.  per  day  to  the  milch  cows, 
which  has  wonderfully  increased  the  yield  of  milk,  and  about  IJ  lb.  per  day  to  ani- 
mals under  18  months.  In  America  you  can  use  to  good  advantage  distillery  grains 
for  this  purpose.  Say  to  your  countrymen  that  such  of  them  as  would  like  to  visit 
Fraiice,  and  study  the  ensilages  of  Burtin  upon  the  spot,  may  feel  sure  of  meeting 
a  kind  reception  there. 


THE  ENSILAGE  OF  MAIZE.  87 


EXUTvACT   FROM   LETTER   OF    EDWARD   II.   KNIGHT, 

Author  of  Mechanical  Dictionary,  Commissioner  to  Paris  Exposition. 

Washington,  March,  1879. 
"  Your  book  caaie  safely  to  haml.  I  have  read  it  through,  and  although  I  had 
seeu  the  models  of  the  silos  at  the  Paris  Exposition,  and  heard  a  great  deal  of  occa- 
sional cliat  on  the  subject,  I  had  no  adequate  idea  of  its  iuiportanee.  I  have  a  farm 
on  a  river  bottom,  and  buildings  in  which  silos  can  be  conveniently  erected,  and  I  am 
heartily  glad  that  I  met  a  leading  spirit." 


REMARKS. 

One  question  that  cannot  as  yet  be  answered  by  experience  is  the  degree  of  cold 
that  a  silo  filled  above  grouud  can  be  subjected  to  without  injury.  I  presume  that 
the  chemical  action  which  exists  eveu  in  the  compressed  material,  will  be  sufficient  to 
prevent  any  injury  from  this  cause,  but  probably  a  small  protectiou  on  the  outside,  or 
north  side  of  wall  will  insure  its  safety. 

It  is  probable  that  maize  sown  broadcast  is  not  proper  matter  for  ensilage,  as  its 
saccharine  capacity  is  less  developed  than  when  planted  in  drills ;  no  sugar,  no  alcohol. 
There  is  a  French  maxim,  "  Who  has  hay  has  bread."  Since  fodder  supports  catth?, 
cattle  yield  manure  which  brings  fertility  to  the  soil  and  abundance  to  the  harvest. 
The  one  thing  lacking  to  the  South  and  East  of  this  great  country  is  cattle.  I  l)e- 
lieve  that  "  silos  "  and  "  ensilage"  will  supply  this  lack,  and  that  everywhere  and  all 
over,  cattle  raising  and  fattening  will  take  tiic  front  raidc  in  agricultural  industry.* 

The  price  of  Ensilage  Cutter  is  !|12.')  at  New  York.  It  is  strong  enough  for  any 
kiud  of  power,  while  it  can  be  run  eveu  by  one  horse.     Weight  about  1,0UU  ll)s. 

I  shall  be  happy  to  receive  and  to  print  any  additional  facts  that  may  be  ascer- 
tained upon  this  subject.  It  certainly  seems  to  promise  to  contribute  more  to  the 
happiness  of  the  human  race  than  any  other  physical  discovery  that  has  ever  been 
made.  The  suggestion  that  green  grass  or  green  fodder  is  not  the  most  economical  or 
profitable  food  for  cattle  in  the  summer  season  is  certainly  a  revolutionary  idea. 

M.  Gofl'art  states  that  the  processes  which  have  been  recommemled  by  a  certain 
French  writer,  aiul  which  were  unfortunately  published  extensively  in  this  country, 
were  defective,  and  have  caused  the  loss  of  much  money  to  several  agriculturists  in 
France,  who  to-day  do  not  like  to  hear  the  subject  mentioned.  It  is  greatly  to  be  de- 
sired that  American  agriculturists  should  start  on  the  right  track  and  not  be  misled 
or  discouraged  by  careless  or  superficial  articles  on  the  subject. 

Ensihige  may  be  not  only  a  store  for  winter  use,  but  against  drought  as  well. 

J.  B.  liROWN, 

55  Beekman  Street,  New  York. 

*  Kansas  exliihited,  at  Ccuteuuial  Exposition,  a  stalk  of  maize  21  feet  high.  A  man,  by 
reaching  ui>  with  umbveUa  or  caue,  coiihl  touch  the  lowest  ear. 


THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW   CO.'S 


ROCKING-TEETH  SMOOTHING  HARROW 

And    BROADCAST    AA^EEDER. 

Patentei>  June  25,  I87.s. 


When  drawn  from  one  end,  the  teeth  are  perpendicular ;  it  is  then  a  pulverizer. 
When  drawn  from  the  opposite  end,  the  teeth  incline  backward,  which  makes  it  a 
smoothing  harrow  ;  hence,  it  is  of  double  the  value  of  other  smoothing  harrows. 

Other  smoothing  liarrows  have  fixed  teeth,  which  flatten  and  bevel  oif  on  one  side 
and  do  not  cover  seed  or  clear  themselves  as  well  as  these  rocking-teeth  do. 

The  teeth  of  this  harrow  are  made  of  ^-inch  round  steel,  tempered  in  oil,  and 
coiled  around  a  stud,  which  gives  them  sufficient  elasticity  to  prevent  breakage  even 
in  rough  land.  Tliey  are  attached  to  the  frame  by  bolts,  and  can  be  easily  renmved 
if  necessary.  The  frame  is  made  of  the  best  white  oak  or  ash,  well  braced,  and  bolted 
together  so  that  any  piece  can  be  easily  and  cheaply  replaced. 

By  means  of  the  adjustable  draft  bar,  this  harrow  can  be  adjusted  so  that  the 
teeth  will  have  a  greater  or  less  angle  to  the  line  of  draft ;  i.  e.,  they  will  cut  under 
more  or  less  as  desired.  On  this  account  it  is  better  adapted  to  both  weeding  and 
pulverizing  than  any  other  harrow. 

Sinarle  Frame,  wi«ltli  of   track  4i  feet,  weight   115  lbs $15.00 

Double        "  "  "        J)        "  "         220  lbs 25.00 

It  is  very  easy  to  save  the  cost  of  tliis  Harrow  by  the  increased  yiidd  of  grain  or 
clover  in  a  single  day's  work.     We  send  the  Double  unless  ordered  Single. 

MANUFACTURED   BY 

THE   NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO,, 

55  Beekman  Street, 


THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO.'S 
ADAMANT    PLOWS 

Hard  Metal,  but  Not  Chilled,  and  Kot  Brittle. 


ADJUSTABLE  BEAM.    BALANCED  CENTRAL  DRAFT. 


Excellli  111  Sconw  dualities  Lifltness  of  Draft,  M  Perfect  Fitting  Repairs. 


The  metal,  of  which  they  are  made,  is  of  uniform  hardness — so  iiaud  that  it  can- 
not be  drilled  OR  FILED— so  FINE  in  GRAIN  that  it  wlU  polish  like  a  mirror.  The 
polished  surface  of  the  mold-board  will  not  roughen  any  more  than  glass.  Rust  does 
not  cat  into  it;  and  wlien  coated  wifb  rust  it  will  re-polish  in  the  gi-onnd  in  two  min- 
utes as  bright  as  silver.  One  mold  board  of  this  metal  will  wear  at  least  as  long  as 
three  of  steel.  The  hardness  of  this  metal  causes  these  plows  to  dratv  much  easier  than 
ordinary  cast-iron  or  steel  plows.  The  metal  is  uniform,  and  not  liable  to  soft  spots,  as 
chilled  plows  always  are  ;  a  piece  suspended  rings  like  a  bell. 

We  have  abutidant  testiviovy  that  this  metal  will  clear  itself  in  soil  where  some  steel  plotvs 
tvill  vol  work  at  all. 


FKuM'  MEW  Of  ADAMANT  PLOW. 


REAR  VIEW  OF  ADAMANT  PLOW. 


A  Nkw  Principle.— The  beam  is  placed  in  the  middle  of  thk  work,  giving  tbe 
plow  a  central  draft,  and  avoiding  all  underneath  and  side  friction.  This  is  also 
desirable  for  one-horse  plows,  as  it  i>ermits  the  horse  to  walk  in  the  furrow.  The  beam 
being  movable  at  the  points  of  attachment,  the  central  draft  can  always  be  kept  per- 
fect. The  adjusting  is  done  at  the  lieel  of  tbe  beam,  which  can  be  moved  from  or  to 
the  land,  as  desired,  which  brings  the  work  under  exact  control  of  the  i)lowman. 
Even  if  the  beam  warps  or  sprinf/s,  he  can  correct  it.  This  adjustment  is  a  great  advan- 
tage in  plowing  among  trees  and  through  rows  of  corn.  The  beam  is  easy  to  replace  if 
broken.     The  handles  are  straight,  and  can  be  easily  replaced  by  the  farmer.    It  is  high 


THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN  ST. 


undcir  the  beam  and  not  liable  to  choke.  The  laiidside  sloping  inward  relieves  the 
pressure,  and  when  in  use,  the  plow  glides  through  the  soil  with  great  ease,  and  -with 
such  steadiness,  that  when  properly  adjusted,  a  child  might  hold  it.  The  adjustment 
of  the  IKON  BEAM  PLOW  is  made  at  the  slotted  clevis;  both  the  wood  and  iron  ijkam 
PLOWS,  when  properly  adjusted,  run  so  steady  as  to  scarcely  require  holding  at  all. 


SHARE  OF  ADAMANT  PLOAVS. 


EOLLING  COULTEK. 


The  slips,  by  being  reversed  when  worn,  restore  the  level  and  the  land. 

Reversible  self-sharpening  shares  enable  the  farmer  at  all  times  to  make  his 
plow  run  level  and  true. 

The  eU'ect  of  a  sharp  point  to  a  plowshare  is  to  sharpen  the  wing  also.  These  re- 
versible slip  points  sharpen  themselves  by  being  reversed,  saving  at  least  one-third  the 
drait,  as  the  ploAv  does  not  require  to  be  tipped  np. 

The  etiect  of  a  sharp  and  level-bottom  share  is  to  make  the  bottom  of  furrow  level, 
and  to  save  draft  by  cutting  instead  of  scraping  with  the  edge  of  wing. 

These  shares  are  so  constructed  that  the  point  (which  we  call  slip)  can  be  detached 
from  the  main  body  of  the  share,  into  which  it  is  fastened  with  a  common  cut  nail 
driven  in  as  a  key,  with  the  wedge  of  the  nail  driven  up  and  down  the  share,  which 
draws  the  slip  up  tight,  and  broken  ott'  top  and  bottom  downwards.  It  can  be  readily 
driven  out  from  the  bottom  with  another  nail.  This  enables  the  plowman  to  turn  it 
over  at  any  time. 

These  shares  being  always  sharp  do  not  require  the  hollow  or  dip  which  is  neces- 
sary in  the  solid  shares  in  order  to  make  them  penetrate  when  dull,  and  which  not 
only  requires  more  power,  but  more  labor  to  hold  the  plow  ;  at  first,  to  keep  it  from 
running  iN,  and  when  dull,  to  keep  it  fiom  running  OUT.  Every  plowman  will  appre- 
ciate this. 

These  shares  also  preserve  the  wing  as  the  plow  runs  level,  and  the  wing  wears 
sharp  instead  of  growing  thick  and  dull,  as  they  must  do,in  all  plows  that  do  not  run 
level.  Where  the  plowman  uses  the  precaution  to  wear  one  side  of  two  or  three  slijis 
before  turning  any  of  them,  and  thus  preserves  the  correct  lines,  the  Avingof  the  share 
has  a  cutting  edge  as  sharp  as  if  ground  on  a  grindstone. 

Reversing  the  slii>  also  keeps  it  true  on  the  laudside  corner. 

With  sharp  shares  and  level  running  plows,  land  is  more  thoroughly  broken  up, 
with  a  .saving  of  labor  and  time,  and  with  a  uniformity  of  depth  which  is  not  possible 
with  a  solid  share,  consequently  a  larger  yield  of  crops. 

The  wings  of  these  shares  are  wider,  and  thinner,  and  harder  than  usual,  and  level 
on  the  bottom. 

By  actual  test  sve  know  that  there  is  more  service  in  one  of  these  Reversible 
Slip  Shares  with  three;  extra  Slips,  than  in  eight  solid  shares,  while  the  draft  of  the 
plow  is  reduced  at  least  one-tifth,  and  the  cost  of  shares  about  two-thirds. 


THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN  ST 


ADAMANT  A. 


Two-Horse. 


Thi.s  is  a  largk  tvvohorsk  plow,  suitable  for  both  sou  and  STUBisLE  GKOUND, 
and  for  both  smooth  and  stony  land.  It  is  sufficiently  strong  for  an  ox  team  or  for 
three  horses.  It  makes  a  fnrrow  12  to  14  inches  wide  by  7  to  8  inches  deep.  Height 
under  beam,  17J  inches. 

Its  draft  is  about  as  light  as  that  of  the  Phkkskill  Plow — 19^ — which  m;il<es  a 
furrow  4  inches  narrower  than  Adamant  A,  and  is  known  as  an  exceedingly  light 
draft  plow  for  two  horses. 

It  turns  the  furrow  slice  well  over,  pulverizes  and  loosens  the  soil,  and  covers 
weeds,  manure,  etc.,  in  a  manner  that  surprises  a  man  using  it  the  first  time.  It  is  a 
cheap  plow  to  keep  in  rei)air,  and  saves  at  least  one-fourth  of  the  power  required  to 
operate  other  ])low8.  It  catches  in  quick  in  stony  soil.  It  has  slip  shares,  as  also  do 
all  sizes.     The  Coulter  and  Jointer  are  attached  to  standard,  so  as  to  be  adjustable. 

Sent  with  wheel  and  coulter,  unless  otherwisk  ordered.  The  wheel  is  good 
on  sod  ground.  A  circular  coulter  is  recommended  for  rooty  or  very  stiff  sward. 
The  JOINTKR  or  SKIM  PLOW  is  desirable  in  burying  clover.  &c.;  it  does  not  increase 
draft.     The  cross-brace  is  of  wrought  iron. 

Stubble  molds  sent  on  A  and  K,  without  extra  charge,  when  so  ordered,  instead 
of  regular  molds.  Stubble  molds  are  2  inches  shorter  and  1|  lower,  and  a  little  less 
curved  in  rear. 

The  CUTTER  share  is  better  for  stony  ground  than  the  coulter. 

We  also  make  A  and  B  with  a  special  thick  front  standard,  20  inches  high  under 
beam,  for  choky  lands  in  Virginia.  &c.,  called  Virginia  Adamant. 
Weight,  plain,  110  lbs.;  cut,  lOJ  Inches. 
Adamaut  K,  left-hand,  same  size  and  price  as  A. 
N.  B.— We  always  send  right-hand  plows,  unless  ordered  LEFT. 


THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN  ST. 


ADAMANT  B. 

IJg:lit    Two-Horso. 


Adamant  ]{  isaver^^  li^t^Ut  diatt  i\\o-bui;5e  plow  t^cuu  be  {Irawu  by  one  stout 
horse),  and  at  the  same  time  is  stioug  enough  for  all  land  that  is  free  from  fast  rocks. 
It  is  verj"  light  to  handle,  and  turns  a  very  clean,  flat  furrow  I'S  hy  6  inches.  Height 
under  beam,  16  inches  It  is  a  plow  that  will  give  better  satisfaction  in  the  light 
lands  of  Long  Island,  New  Jersey,  and  elsewhere,  than  any  steel  plow  whatever. 
Sent  with  wheel  and  coulter,  unless  otherwise  ordered.  All  of  these  plows  only  re- 
quire the  proper  adjustment  of  beam,  coulter,  traces  and  whiffletrees  to  do  the  work 
with  the  utmost  possible  ease  to  man  and  beast.  The  Coulter  and  Skim  Plow  are  at- 
tached to  standard  as  shown  in  cut  of  A.     Weight,  plain,  80  lbs.  ;  cut,  9^  inches. 

Adamant  M,  Left  Hand,  same  size  as  B. 

Adamant  T,  Right  hand,  size  between  A  and  B,  same  shape  as  B. 


ADAMANT  C. 

Heavy  One-Horse. 


The  draft  of  this  plow  Is  about  the  sam(>  as  that  of  Peekskill  No.  19,  but  it  docs 
much  more  work,  viz.,  making  a  furrow  5  to  (i  inches  deep,  11  to  12  inches  wide, 
which  is  nearly  as  MUCH  WOUK  as  oi{DINauy  TWo-iioitSK  plows  do;  in  fact,  the  in- 
creased ease  of  draft,  on  account  of  hard  metal,  shape,  and  steadiness,  is  very 
nearly  a  saving  of  ovc-horse  poxcer.  It  runs  so  steadily  that  it  can  be  held  by  a  small 
boy,  and  does  not  fret  the  horse.  With  traces  and  whiflletrees  the  right  length, 
and  beam  set  to  proper  land,  it  will  do  the  work.  It  is  a  surprise,  doing  so  much  work; 
at  one  trial  6*^  x  13  inches,  in  heavy,  tough  sod,  draft  only  450  lbs.  With  it,  a  man 
has  a  corn  plow  and  breaking-up  plow  in  one.     The  horse  walks  in  the  furrow. 

Height  uTider  beam,  15i  inches  ;  weight,  (56  lbs.  ;  cut,  9  inches.  This  plow  has 
R.  S.  share  also. 


THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN  ST. 


ADAMANT    11 

Light  Oiie-llorse. 


Weight,  54  lbs.;    cut,  8^  inches;    turus  furrow   10   to  11  inches   wide  aud  5  to 
6  inches  deep.     Height  uuder  beam,  16  inches. 


ADAMANT  TL 

L.ig:ht  Oiie-Hoise. 


Adamant  H  and  E  are  more  satisfactory  than  any  of  the  cast-ikon  and  stkki, 
PLOW.s  used  in  the  southern  states,  as  they  will  scour  in  the  stickiest  soils,  have 
a  very  high  standard,  and  are  light  and  durable.  They  are  also  excellent  cokn 
PLOWS  for  the  nouthern  states,  making  a  good  fun-ow  without  any  choking  or 
sticking  in  any  soils.  The  central  draft  principle  enables  the  horse  to  walk  in  the 
furro"w,  which  is  a  great  improvement  on  common  one-horse  plows  with  straight 
standard.  Height  under  beam.  16  inches.  H  is  also  made  with  cut-off  mold  for  cab- 
bage plowing.  They  both  rnn  very  steady  and  light.  Weight,  48  lbs.;  cut,  7  inches. 
They  are  also  made  with  wrought  standards  and  stationary  side  attached  beams, 
when  so  desired. 


THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN  ST. 


ADAMANT   L. 

Two-IIorsc  Iron  Be: 


'I'his  plow  is  very  handsome,  aud  it  works  as  well  as  it  looks.  The  adjustment  of 
lioth  land  and  pitch  is  done  to  perfection  by  a  slotted  clevis  iu  counecliou  with  a 
j^auge  bolt.  It  draws  quite  as  easy,  as  steady,  and  makes  about  the  same  size  furrow 
as  A<lamnnt  A  :  the  beam  is  about  six  inches  shorter.  The  draft-rod  ))revent8  break- 
age of  the  beam,  and  by  its  elasticity  protects  all  parts  of  the  plow  from  breakage. 
We  have  made  furrows  with  it  In  x  9  inches,  14  x  8  inches,  I'i  x  G  inches,  running 
with  great  steadiness.  Changes  are  made  in  a  moment,  by  adjusting  the  clevis.  The 
standard  is  very  high.  It  is  exceedingly  satisfactory  in  tough,  heavy  sod,  or  sticky 
soil,  and  is  a  perfect  ])ulverizer  in  stubble  ground.  Weight,  complete.  1*2;')  lbs.  iSent 
witliont  wheel  and  coulter,  unless  otherwise  ordered.  Height  under  beam,  17  inches. 
Weight.  i>l!iii.,  1 1:?  lbs. ;  cut  10  inches. 

REDUCED  PRICES,  SEPTEMBER,  1878. 


Plain 
Pb.w. 


Plow  with    Plow  with 
Wheel.        Coulter. 


Adamant  H,  Light  One  Horse 


E,  Medium 

C,  Heavy 

H,  Light  Two-Horse 

T,  Medium        '•        

A,Heavv  '  

M,  Light  •        Left  Hand  .. 

K,  Heavy  -  '•  "        .. 

L.  Heavy  Two-Horse,  Iron  Beam. 


|;5.uo 

6.00 
7.50 
10.00 
11.00 
12,00 
10.00 
12.00 
11.00 


$8.50 
11.00 
12.00 
13.00 
11.00 
13.00 
12.00 


$9.00 
11.50 
12.75 
14.00 
11.50 
14.00 
13.00 


Plow  witli 
Wheel  & 
Coulter. 


$10.00 
12.00 
13.50 
15.00 
12.0t' 
15.00 
IJ.OO 


REPAIRS. 


" 

■'     ' 

,   6 

No.  PLOW. 

1 

> 

n 

1 

5 

III 

^55 

1 

.75 

1 
1 

.35 

1 

iso" 

1:1 

^!  1 

.30    1.25 

it 

i 

PC 

Adamant  H..  . 

i 

.35 

..        8 

.60 

E... 

^ 

.50 

.60  1    8 

... 

1.00 

.40 

.30 

,30    1.25 

,30 

.75 

C  ... 

2 

.60 

.70  .10 

.30 

.70 

1.00 

.50 

1.50 

.60 

.40 

.40    1.50 

.40 

.85 

B... 

2^ 

.65 

.80  .12 

.30 

.70 

1.00 

.fO 

2.00 

.70 

.50 

.50    1.75 

.40    1.00 

T  ... 

n 

.70 

.90   .12 

.30 

.70 

1.25 

.50 

2.V5 

.80 

.60 

.50  -  2.00 

.50    1.25 

A  ... 

3 

.HO 

1.00  ..14 

.30 

.70 

1.50 

.50 

2.50 

1.00 

.60 

.(10  !  2.00 

.50    1.50 

M... 

ti^ 

.65 

.80  .12 

.30 

.70 

1.00 

.50 

2.00 

.70 

.50 

.50 

1.75 

.40    1.00 

K... 

3 

.80 

1.00   .14 

.30 

.70 

1.50 

.50 

2.,50 

1.00 

.60 

.60 

2.00 

..50    1.50 

L... 

3 

.80 

1.00   .14 

.30 

.70 

1..50     .50 

2.50 

.to 

... 

.50    3.00 

THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN  ST. 


Vll 


Plain  plow  is  without  wheel  and  coulter.  Plow  complete  Includes  wheel  and 
coulter.  We  put  skim  plow  in  place  of  coulter  on  A,  L  and  K,  when  ordered,  without 
any  extra  charge.  All  plows  have  an  extra  slip.  Extra  long  sod  mold  for  A,  and  K, 
$3.  Rolling  circular  coulter  for  B,  A,  Ij,  M  or  K,  $3.  A,  K,  B  and  M  are  also  made 
with  EXTRA  HIGH  STA.XDA.RDS  for  trashy  land,  called  Virginia  Adamants.  A  and  K 
are  made  with  higher  molds  and  arranged  for  three  horses,  $1.50  extra.  Truck  mold 
for  H,  .50  cts.  All  of  the  above  plows  have  adjustable  beams.  We  also  have  a  cab- 
bage PLOW,  $5.00;  this  metal  is  very  desirable  in  garden  soil. 

All  repairs  ground  ready  for  use. 

Adamant  sled  shoes  ground,  5  cents  per  lb.  These  have  the  same  advautnge 
over  common  iron  sled  shoes  as  to  saving  of  friction. 


These  cuts  show  the  bottom  line  of  a  solid  point  and  a  slip  share  plow,  the  former 
requiring  a  hollow  under  the  point  to  compensate  for  the  rounding  up  of  the  point, 
which  in  the  slip  share  is  sharpened  by  turning  over. 


ONE  METHOD  OF  PLOWING  WITH  .\DAMANT  PLOWS 


THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN  ST. 


UNSOLICITED. 

"  BitOADWAY,  Wauren  Co.,  N.  J.,  September  ^,  1878. 

"  I  have  thoroughly  tested  the  Adamant  plovr  with  reversible  slip  shares.  I  have 
broken  up  twenty-tive  acres  of  sod  and  fallow,  also  plowed  eight  acres  of  corn,  with  the 
one  nhare  and  eight  slips  (including  the  one  on  the  share),  which  I  have  sent  you.  My 
soil  has  more  or  less  grit,  part  is  very  gravelly  and  fast  underground  stone,  which  is 
hard  to  plow  in  dry  time.  I  have  tried  other  improved  plows  this  siiuimer,  but  prefer 
the  Adamant.  N.  WARNE." 

This  share  and  slips  are  to  be  soon  at  onr  office. — N.  Y.  P.  Co. 


EXPERIENCES. 

"  Westbury,  L.  I.,  4th  mo.,  5,  1878. 

"  At  thy  request  I  herewith  give  thee  an  account  of  the  working  of  the  plow.  I 
have  used  the  Adamant  A  in  a  sod.  a  part  of  the  field  generally  unscourable  with  a 
cast-iron  plow  of  ordinary  construction,  but  with  the  Adamantine  I  saw  no  difference 
jn  this  sticky  soil  or  in  the  more  sandy  places,  clearing  itself  perfectly  all  the  time,  and 
I  am  highly  pleased  with  its  working  in  every  respect.  In  draft,  very  easy,  consider- 
ing the  depth  and  breadth  of  furrow,  also  easy  for  the  holder. 

"I  have  had  a  great  many  different  kinds  of  plows  in  my  time,  but  I  think  I  never 
had  one  so  much  to  my  liking  as  this.  Respectfully,  WM.  P.  TITUS. 

"  P.  S. — I  did  not  need  a  two-horse  plow  when  I  bought  this,  but  I  liked  the  looks 
of  it  so  well  that  I  could  not  go  away  without  it." 


"Offick  Amkrican  Agriculturist, 
"  New  York,  May  7,  1878. 
"  I  promised  to  let  you  know  how  the  Adamant  plow  works.  I  tried  it  in  wet  sticky 
clay  where  I  was  opening  some  drains,  and  it  turned  a  perfectly  clean  furrow  even  in 
that  soil  without  any  adhering  to  the  mold-board.  I  don't  think  it  would  clog  in  any 
soil ;  it  draws  very  easily  and  handles  very  nicely.  It  is  certainly  the  best  plow  I  have 
used.  The  arrangement  for  adjusting  the  line  of  draft  and  width  of  furrow  works  very 
well.     I  am  very,  very  much  pleased  with  it. 

"Yours,  very  truly,  H.STEWART, 

"Assistant  Editor  Amcnmn  JfiricuUurist" 


"  Closter,  N.  J.,  June  12th,  1878. 
"  I  have  been  using  the  share  with  reversible  point  for  all  the  plowing  I  have  done 
this  season,  with  great  satisfaction.      My  soil  is  a  sharp,  gravelly  loam  which  cuts 
away  plowshares  at  a  great  rate,  so  that  a  share  is  virtually  ruined  in  half  a  day's 


THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN   ST.  ix 

plowing  sometimes.  We  wear  them  longer  of  course,  but  add  not  a  little  to  the  labor 
of  the  horses  ;  your  one  share  has  worn  np  to  this  time,  wearing  out  several  slips  and 
the  whole  share  is  still  sharp  and  sound.  It  has  struck  heavy  stones  repeatedly,  and 
the  beam  has  been  earned  away  once  by  such  a  collision,  but  the  share  is  all  right. 
It  is  an  invaluable  '  institution.'  Truly  Yours, 

"  M.  C.  WELD." 


"  Hopewell,  N.  J.,  June  Tst,  1878. 
"I  cannot  speak  too  highly  of  the  plow  (Ad.aniant  B)  I  bought  of  you  this  spring; 
it  far  exceeds  my  expectations.  I  have  tried  it  in  both  sod  and  stubble,  and  find  it  to 
be  the  easiest  and  nicest  working  plow  I  have  ever  used.  A  son  of  mine,  who  would 
hardly  have  managed  another  plow,  did  the  most  of  my  plowing  in  the  very  best 
manner.  One  of  my  neighbors  borrowed  it  to  plow  a  tough  sod  very  heavily  manured, 
and  the  way  it  turned  every  i)article  of  grass  and  inaimre  under,  entirely  out  of  sight, 
was  surj)rising.  The  Adamants  are  certainly  superior  to  any  ])low8  ever  made.  The 
centre  draft  and  reversible  points  are  the  greatest  improvements  ever  made  in  plows. 
The  better  a  farmer  plows  and  pulverizes  his  soil,  the  better  his  crops  will  be  ;  there- 
fore, I  believe  it  will  pay  them  to  lay  aside  their  old-style  plows  and  use  the  Ada- 
mants. "        ASHER   H.  SNOOK." 


"  Hopewell,  N.  J.,  .June  6th ,  1878. 
"The  pair  of  Adamant  Plows  I  bought  of  you  one  year  ago  last  March,  give  the 
best  of  satisfaction  ;  I  xised  them  all  last  season,  have  done  all  my  plowing  with  them 
this  spring,  and  find  them  to  be  the  best  plows  I  have  ever  used.  I  can  do  one-third 
more  work  with  them,  with  the  same  amount  of  labor  for  the  team,  than  any  plow  I 
have  seen  or  used.  They  are  easy  to  handle ;  any  boy  can  manage  them  ;  they  are  so 
well  balanced  that  they  need  no  guiding ;  they  turn  the  sod  and  manure  well  under, 
and  thoroughly  pulverize  the  soil,  leaving  it  so  mellow  that  it  saves  much  labor  in 
harrowing.     Last  season  I  used  three  plows  in  plowing  a  field  of  sod  for  corn— the  two 

Adamants  and  one  .      I  could  see  a  difference  in  the  corn  the  whole  season  : 

where  I  used  the  Adamants,  the  crop  was  considerably  the  best ;  it  was  also  less  labor 
to  work.  I  can  heartily  recommend  them  to  any  farmer  wanting  a  good  plow.  What 
they  will  save  in  horse-flesh  and  repairs  will  soon  pay  for  a  plow.  The  reversible  slip 
shares,  I  think,  are  a  wonderfnl  improvement ;  by  using  them  you  not  only  save  in 
cost  for  shares,  but  have  a  sharp  and  level  running  plow  all  the  time.  If  I  could  not 
get  others  like  them,  I  would  not  take  five  times  for  them  what  they  cost  me. 

"  .TOHN  S.   VANDYKE." 


"Montana,  Warren  Co.,  N.  .!.,  May  25th,  1878. 
"  I  have  fully  tested  your  Adamant  Plow  with  the  reversible  point,  and  take  pleasure 
in  recommending  them  to  the  farmers  of  this  community  for  good  work,  lightness  of 
draft,  easy  on  plowman,  save  fifty  per  cent,  on  repairs.  I  plowed  ten  acres,  wore  out 
two  points,  and  commenced  on  a  third  one,  while  the  share  is  not  more  than  one-half 
worn  out.  My  ground  is  a  greasy,  sticky,  and  stony  soil,  very  difficult  to  get  a  plow 
to  scour,  but  the  Adamant  does  scour  in  it  without  difiSculty. 

"  JAMES  P.  KENT." 


THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN  ST. 


WROUOHT  BEAM  DOUBLE  MOLD  PLOW 

WITH   SHOE. 


For  Cultivating  and  Ridging  oii  Hilling  Corn,  Potatoes,  &,c. 

Holds  easy,  runs  steady,  and  is  not  liable  to  clog.  Works  diflferent  widths  of  rows 
by  using  long  and  sliort  wings.  The  centre  piece  increases  the  height  of  the  mold- 
board  when  desired. 

In  the  cultivation  of  the  potato,  hand  hoeing  can  he  entirch/  dispensed  irith.  Even 
quack-grass,  however  troublesome,  can  be  subdued  without  the  use  of  the  hoe,  and 
a  large  crop  of  potatoes  realized  by  pursuing  the  following  coui'se,  which  is  no  exper- 
iment, but  an  established  method,  which  is  now  being  generally  adopted  by  farmers 
who  prefer  this  way  to  any  other,  believing  that  a  better  crop  can  thus  be  realized 
with  less  labor. 

After  the  ground  is  plowed  and  thoroiu/hhi  harrowed,  let  the  furrows  be  made 
deep  and  of  as  equal  distance  apart  as  possible,  and  when  the  potatoes  first  make 
their  appearance,  or  when  they  are  one  or  two  inches  high,  use  the  double-mold  plow 
arranged  wide  enougii,  and,  if  necessary,  with  the  centre-piece  in,  to  bury  the  potatoes 
entirely  under  hy  passing  once  between  the  rows;  but  if  the  sod  is  very  stiff  and  uu- 
rotted,  it  may  be  necessary  to  use  an  ordinary  two-horse  plow,  turning  one  furrow  on 
the  top  of  each  row  of  potatoes,  then  with  the  harrow  drag  over  the  same  way  (no 
danger  of  injuring  the  potatoes),  which  leave  the  ground  freshly  plowed  and  har- 
rowed, and  very  soon  the  potatoes  will  again  make  their  appearance,  free  from  grass, 
and  with  as  much  ground  on  the  hill  as  is  necessary.  Then  cross-jilow  with  the  dou- 
ble-mold plow  as  often  as  desirable,  keeping  the  ground  well  stirred,  and  a  large  crop 
of  potatoes  will  be  the  result. 

Where  potatoes  are  planted  in  drills,  the  same  course  is  pursued  in  burying  them 
under  when  they  first  make  their  appearance  above  the  ground,  and  then  dragging; 
after  which  an  ordinary  corn-plow  is  run  as  near  the  row  as  convenient,  throwing 
the  ground  from  the  row  ;  or  a  cultivator  may  be  used  for  this  purpose.  The  double- 
mold  plow  is  afterwards  used  for  throwing  the  ground  toward  the  row.  Let  this 
operation  be  repeated,  and  the  result  will  bo  satisfactory. 

IT    WILL    SAVE    ITS    CO.ST    BY    A    FEW    DAYS'    USE. 

Price,    complete |8  00 

Extra  shares,  50  cents. 


THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO..  o5  BEEKMAN  ST. 


THE  NEW  YORK  CORN  AND  SEED  PLANTER. 


One  man  ami  a  liorse  cau  plant  from  seven  to  fen  acres  of  corn  in  a  day  with 
the  planter,  at  a  cost  of  fiom  $3.50  to  $5,  wiiile  to  plant  the  same  by  hand  would  cost 
$2r>  at  least. 

This  Planter,  at  one  phockss,  opens  its  furrow,  gaugks,  dhops,  covkks  the 
seeds  and  ROLLS  them  down.  Also  mkasuhvs  and  makks  off  tjic  oistanck  for  the 
next  ROW  or  drill  to  be  planted. 

It  WILL  PLANT  ALL  KINDS  of  SEKPS,  from  com,  hcaiis,  peas,  elc,  to  the  smallest 
KINDS  of  garden  SEEDS,  in  HILLS  or  DRILLS,  at  ANY  DISTANCE  between  the  seeds  or 
hills,  from  one  inch  to  seventy-two  inches.  Also  measures  the  quantity  of  seeds  to 
the  hill,  drill,  or  acre. 

Any  of  these  changt's  may  l)e  .made  in  five  minutes'  time  to  adapt  it  to  the 
work  required,  and  the  seeding  action  may  be  instantly  thrown  out  of  gear 
and  stopped  in  turning  at  head-lands,  or  for  moving  from  field  to  field.  By  being 
careful  about  throwing  out  of  and  in  gear,  at  the  end  of  the  rows,  the  hills  may  be 
made  to  row  both  wav.x. 


Rect 


it    improvements  have  increased  its  strength  and  quality  of  workmanship. 


Price 


$20  00 


xii  THE  NEW  YOKK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN  ST. 


GARDEN  ROLLER. 


Weigrlits    Koop    II:iii«1l<'    Erect. 


2  Sec,  U 

inch  face,  15  i 

iicbes 

lianieter,  with 

weights 

about  125 

1     ' 

12 

20 

" 

" 

" 

"       140 

1     ' 

20 

20 

" 

" 

" 

"      220 

2     ' 

12 

20 

" 

.. 

" 

"      300 

3     ' 

12 

20 

" 

.< 

" 

"      450 

1     ' 

12 

24 

" 

<< 

'• 

"       200 

2     ' 

12 

24 

" 

.. 

" 

"      400 

1     ' 

12 

28 

" 

" 

" 

"      250 

2     ' 

12 

28 

" 

. 

" 

"      500 

3     ' 

12 

28 

.. 

.. 

- 

"       700 

THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN  ST.  xiii 


WOOD  FRAME  JERSEY  CULTIVATOR. 


It  is  made  with  wrought-irou  standard,  polished  reversible  steel  plates,  and  ad- 
justable draft-rod.  It  is  light  to  handle,  draws  steady,  easy  for  the  horse,  and  loosens 
and  pulverizes  the  soil. 


Weijiht 48  lbs. 


Price $6  00 


WROUGHT-IRON  FRAME  JERSEY  CULTIVATOR. 


It  is  made  in  a  thoroughly  workmanlike  manner,  of  the  very  best  materials,  is 
strong,  very  durable,  and  superior  to  the  wood  frame,  as  it  is  not  liable  to  clog  in  foul 
or  weedy  ground. 


Weight. 


.46  lbs. 


Price . 


.$7  00 


THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN  ST 


THE  FIELD  ROLLEl^ 


Is  a  valuable  maclime  for  crushing  sods  and  lumps  remaining  after  the  harrow  has 
passed,  pressing  down  stones,  and  rendering  the  field  smooth  for  the  mowing-machine, 
&c.  By  pressing  the  earth  close  about  the  seed,  a  more  sure  and  quick  germination 
is  effected.  This  iron  roller  is  the  most  approved  kind,  as  it  clears  better  and  is  more 
durable  than  the  wooden  roller.  The  stone  box  is  convenient  for  taking  off  loose 
stones.    By  rolling  t-arly  in  the  Spring,  the  heaving  effect  of  frost  is  repressed. 


3  Sec. 

4 

5 

4 

5 


12   inch  face  by  .20  inches  diameter,  weight  about  550 

12  '•  20  •■  '•  "  "  650 

12  '•  20  ••             ■■  ■•  •'  750 

12  "  24  ••             ••  ■•  "  850 

12  "  24  •■  ■•  •'  "  1,000 

12  "  24  "  ••  '•  ••  1,200 

12  •'  28  ••              •  ••  ••  950 

12  "  28  ••  ••  •  •'  1,150 

12  "  28  ••  ■•  ■•  ••  1,350 

12  '•  36  •■               ■  ■■  '  1,400 

12  "  36  "  "  "  "  1,700 

12  "  36  ••  ••  ••  "  2,000 


THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN  ST. 


THE  NISHWITZ  HARROW. 


The  Disk  Harrow  is  tbo  oulj  Lano-w  tit  for  sod  aud  the  Lest  in  use  to  prei)are 
laud  for  seeding.  It  is  a  tborough  cultivator,  wLich  imiilies  pulverizatiou  of  soil  aud 
iuteruiixture  of  fertilizers,  aud  cultivates  before  the  crop  is  put  in,  which  is  the  best 
time  to  do  it. 

It  consists  of  a  series  of  revolving,  sliarp-edged,  circular,  concave  disks,  set  at 
such  an  angle  iu  relation  to  the  line  of  draft,  that  they  fully  pulverize  the  soil  by  cut- 
ting, lifting,  and  turning  it  over  iu  fine,  small  furrows.  The  frame  consists  of  two 
pieces  of  wood,  hiuged  together  in  front,  which  are  secured  at  any  desirable  distance 
apart  by  means  of  a  cross-bar,  bolted  across  the  ceutre  of  the  frame.  To  this  cross- 
bar is  attached  a  comfortable  spring  seat.  For  purposes  of  storing  or  transportation, 
the  frame  can  be  folded  together.  It  is  extremely  simple  in  construction,  and  not 
liable  to  get  out  of  order. 

The  disks  are  iioiv  held  on  hy  journah  headed,  and  not  hij  scrapers  only,  as  formerly 
made.  This  is  a  great  improvement,  saving  friction  and  wear;  the  wearing  parts  being 
pins  aud  washers  are  replaced  at  very  small  cost. 

The  advantage  of  this  ^  shaped  harrow,  with  the  disks  following  each  other 
over  those,  like  those  where  disks  are  arranged  nearly  on  a  line,  is,  that  iu  crossing 
the  furrows  they  do  not  all  strike  at  once,  aud  therefore  draw  uiore  uniformly.  The 
steel  journals,  which  are  readily  replaced  when  worn,  are  the  very  cheapest  kind  of 
journals  to  keep  iu  repair,  though  not  looking  so  durable  as  larger  cast-iron  axles,  and 
they  are  not  so  liable  to  clog  in  sticky  soils.  The  journals  can  be  replaced  by  any 
blacksmith.     The  disks  last  a   long  time,  aud,  being  concave,  are  not  liable  to  break. 

By  means  of  a  scraper,  against  which  the  concave  circular  disk  or  tooth  revolves, 
it  is  kept  clean  or  scoured  in  the  most  adhesive  soils. 

It  will  not  catch  weeds,  stubble,  coarse  manure,  or  roots,  and  clog  up  like  a  com- 
mon harrow  or  cultivator,  bixt  will  cut  and  mix  them  with  the  soil. 


THE  NEW  YOEK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN  ST. 


It  will  not  turn  ap  the  sod  wheii  using  it  on  sward  land. 

It  will  thoroughly  prepare  land  for  the  seed  drill. 

It  will  work  on  wet  laud  where  no  other  implement  will,  and  save  much  valuable 
time  in  putting  crops  in  the  ground  iu  proper  season. 

It  will  more  than  save  its  cost  in  preparing  live  acres  of  sward  land  for  corn. 

It  will  produce  a  better  crop,  by  thoroughly  loosening  and  mixing  the  soil. 

It  will  actually  save  plowing  in  many  instances. 

Land  plowed  in  the  Fall  can  be  prepared  for  crops  iu  the  Spring  without  re- 
plowiug. 

It  is  the  best  implement  for  pulveriziug  newly-broken  land. 

It  is  just  the  tiling  for  summer-fallowing  land;  it  will  work  up  the  soil,  and  is 
sure  to  kill  all  weeds. 

It  is  a  good  clod-crusher. 

Most  important  of  all,  iu  putting  in  grain,  covering  it  well,  leaving  it  iu  little 
drills,  and  at  the  proper  depth  for  germination. 

For  cross  cultivatiug  prairie  sod,  those  who  use  them  say  they  save  $1  per  acre  iu 
one  cultivation. 

The  tongue  is  desirable  on  large  fields,  and  is  useful  when  cultivating  com  or 
grapes, 'which  is  done  by  removing  the  forward  disk  so  as  to  straddle  the  rows,  for 
which  this  harrow  is  very  highly  recommended;  while  the  clevis  without  tongue  is 
desirable  in  small  fields. 

Nos.  3  and  4  Harrows  are  very  large,  with  15-inch  disks,  used  with  three  or  four 
horses,  principally  for  general  cultivation  on  the  largest  farms,  and  on  the  Western 
prairies,  iu  i)lace  of  second  sowing,  to  cut  up  the  prairie  sods,  and  on  the  Southern 
plantations  as  a  gang  plow,  where  it  does  the  work  of  many  plows,  saving  much  time 
and  expense. 

For  Flax  Ground. — One  agent  sold  over  one  hundred  in  the  flax  regions  of  In- 
diana in  one  season. 

Land  infested  with  corn  or  cotton  stalks,  grass,  clods,  or  roots,  is  by  the  use  of 
this  hanow  nicely  prepared  for  cultivation.  The  harrow  is  adjustable  both  for  width 
and  depth  of  its  track. 

For  harrowiug  between  rows  of  sugar  cane  they  are  exceedingly  satisfactory. 


Size. 

Horses  required 
to  oiicrate  it. 

Number  of 
Dislvs. 

Diameter  of 
DLslcs. 

WeiRht 
Complete. 

No.  1 
"     2 
"     3 
"     4 

2 

3  or  4 

4 

11 
13 
11 
13 

11  in. 
11  in. 
15  in. 
15  in. 

200  lbs. 
225     " 
400     " 
4.50     " 

The  No.  1  (11  disks)  Harrow  without  pole,  is  the  most  popular  size  for  all  general 
purposes,  and  is  the  size  we  hell  the  most  of,  and  always  send  unless  specially  ordered 
otherwise. 


THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN  ST.  xvii 


THE  COPPER  STRIP  FEED  CUTTER. 


This  is  umloubtedly  the  easiest  cutter  by  lumd  power,  because  it  has  excellent 
monieutum  without  being  speeded  up.  The  5^,  8,  9,  will  cut  stalks  as  well  as  hay 
about  two  iuches  iu  leugth,  and  accomplish  more  than  can  be  done  by  hand  power  on 
any  other  principle.     These  sizes  can  also  be  run  by  power  if  desired. 

By  means  of  cutting  against  flanges,  instead  of  a  roller,  it  is  made  perfectly  self- 
feeding,  and  a  large  volume  of  feed  is  allowed  to  pass  the  knives  without  clogging 
the  machine. 

'1  liese  flanges  enable  the  smallest  sized  niachiues  to  cut  the  largest  corn-stalks  as 
easily  as  hay  or  straw,  whereas  a  roller  (raw-hide  or  other),  by  choking  up  the  throat, 
passes  but  a  small  depth  of  feed  and  clogs. 

As  the  machine  is  turned  the  flanged  cylinder  and  knife  grasp  the  feed,  draw  it 
forward,  and  cut  it  oif  as  the  two  meet;  cutting  a  volume  of  feed  three  to  six  inches 
deep,  of  uniform  length  without  clogging,  and  without  the  friction  that  arises  from 
the  use  of  a  multitude  of  gear  wheels. 

All  parts  of  the  machines  are  easily  and  cheaply  replaced  by  the  farmer,  and  the 
knives  and  eop])ers  are  made  so  that,  if  they  are  ever  broken  or  worn  out,  they  can  for 
a  few  cents  each  be  duplicated  and  put  on  at  home. 

The  Cojyper  does  not  dull  the  Kiiices,  and  is  Durable. 

We  make  a  variety  of  sizes  from  $9  to  $35.  Descriptive  circular  sent  on  ap- 
plication. 

THE  BEST  LENGTH  TO  CUT  FEED. 

On  this  subject  the  Editor  of  the  Jmericau  Agriculturist,  December  number,  1>565, 
page  371,  says : 

"  It  is  not  necessary  to  cut  corn-stalks  as  short  as  some  have  recommended.  For 
fourteen  years  the  writer  has  been  accustomed  to  cut  all  his  corn-stalks,  and  for  sever- 
al years  some  Were  cut  about  half  an  inch  long,  though,  for  the  most  part,  two  inches 
was  the  usual  length.  Neat  cattle  and  horses  will  eat  them  quite  as  well  when  cut 
two  inches  long  as  if  half  an  inch  long.  And  it  is  much  safer  to  cut  them  two  inches 
long  than  half  an  inch,  because,  when  short,  hard  pieces  are  often  crowded  endwise  be- 
tween the  teeth  of  animals,  will  wound  the  gums,  making  the  mouth  so  sore  that  ani- 
mals sometimes  will  sutler  with  hunger  before  they  will  venture  to  eat  cut  stalks. 
Moreover  it  is  highly  probable  that  these  thin,  short,  flinty  edges  injure  the  intestines," 


xviii  THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN  ST. 

lu  the  Report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Agiicnlture  for  1866,  page  280, 
tlie  Coniniissioner  says : 

"  A  large  nnniber  of  devices  for  chaffing  coarse  fodder  have  been  patented,  Itiit 
tlie  nunilH'r  of  cutters  tliat  are  likely  to  conic  into  general  use,  or  give  satisfaction,  is 
exceedingly  small.  Many  good  machines  are  too  complicated  for  common  fanners  and 
their  laborers,  who  possess  only  ordinary  ability  to  keep  machinery  in  running  order, 
and  to  operate  such  implements  with  skill  and  efficiency. 

"Some  manit/actuiTrn  have  erred  seriouslj/  in  constructing  fodder  cuttcrn,  by  not  iinder- 
standiny  iihat  is  required  of  a  machine  for  cutting  stalks,  straw  and  hay.  Men  who  have 
a  correct  understanding  of  the  management  of  domestic  animals,  and  of  preparing 
their  food,  know  that  the  fodder  cutter  that  cuts  hay  or  straw  finest  or  shortest  is  by 
no  means  the  most  effective  cutter.  Experience  proves  that  fodder  digests  much  l)et- 
ter  after  being  macerated  by  the  teeth  of  animals  than  wheiv  it  is  reduced  so  fine  by  a 
straw-cutter  that  they  swallow  it  without  first  crushing  it  between  their  teeth.  The 
stalks  of  Indian  corn  or  sorghum-should  never  be  cut  less  than  two  inches  long." 


THE  BURRALL  CORN  SHELLER  OF  1878. 


Wrought  Shafts.    Right-Hand. 

This   Sheller  Separates    the   Cobs  from   the 
Shelled   Corn. 

It  has  wooden  (instead  of  iron)  legs, 
which  are  not  liable  to  break,  and  are 
more   easily   repaired   when   broken. 


IMPROVEMENTS  FOR  1878. 

8KVEKAL  NEW  TATENTS  APPLIED  FOR. 

Open  front  hoppei-  makes  it  right-handed.  Wrought  Shafts.  (Cast  shafts  always 
break.;  Excellent  improved  spring.  Runs  smooth  and  easy.  Longer  /?</«,  which  make 
«/ic//tr  severalinches  higher  than  formerly.  Flat  balance  wheel;  can  use  belt,  it  de- 
sired. 

The  swell  at  the  throat  in  combination  with  the  patented  spring-plate  admits 
larger  ears  without  clogging,  and  without  scraping  or  breaking  the  cob.  It  shells 
clean.  The  gearing  has  been  changed,  making  it  stronger,  and  causing  it  to  turn  very 
much  easier  than  any  other  sheller  in  the  market,  and  much  easier  than  those  that  we 
made  last  year.  The  spreading  of  the  feet  causes  it  to  stand  entirely  firm,  and  the  in- 
creased weight  adds  much  to  its  durability. 

These  improvements  make  it  entirely  satisfactory  for  every  section  of  this  couu- 
trv  and  other  countries. 


Weight . 


.l-2r.  lb: 


Prict 


.$8  00 


THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN  ST. 


NEW  ENGLAND  ROOT  CUTTER  AND  TEARER. 


The  cut  repriistMits  :i  macLine 
which  every  farmer  should  have. 

It  is  strong  and  durable,  very 
simple  in  its  construction,  and  not 
liable  to  get  out  of  order. 

The  cylinder  or  cutting  appa- 
ratus  is  composed  of  a  number 
of  hooked  or  flat  curved  teeth, 
which,  in  revolving,  passbetvfeen 
stationary  knives,  and  catch  hold 
and  tear  to  ])iece8  the  roots,  etc., 
in  small  sections  for  safety. 

The  hopper  holds  about  a  bush- 
el of  turnips,  which  can  be  cut  in 
one  minute. 

With  this  machine  Pumpkins, 
Turnips,  Beets,  Carrots,  etc.,  can 
be  cut  and  fed  to  Horses,  Cattle, 
Sheep  and  Calves,  without  danger 
of  choking. 

Weight 120  lbs. 

Price $12  00 


ENDLESS  CHAIN  DOG  POWER. 


This  power  is  intended  principally  for 
dairy  purposes,  but  can  be  made  use  of 
wherever  a  light  and  portable  power  is 
desired. 

The  jn-inciple  of  construction  is  ma- 
terially the  same  as  that  of  the  large  rail- 
way  powers,   with   such    modifications, 
diminution  of  friction,  etc.,  as  are  need- 
ed to  fit  it  to  be  moved  by  small  animals. 
A  dog,  sheep  or  goat  is  sufficient  to 
work  it.     The  wheels  are  larger  than  in 
other  dog  powers,  and  are  of  iron  in.stead 
of  wood.     This  power  runs  with  less  fric- 
tion, and  is  more  durable  than  any  other. 
The  floor  is  matched  and  grooved,  which 
disjienses  with  thecluinsy  buttcms,  which 
are  liable  to  bieak  and  come  off.    'J'he 
lever  is  adjustable,  so  that  the  churn  can  be  placed  in  any  position.     It  is  not  desir- 
able to  have  the  churn  under  the  dog's  month. 
It  has  also  a  belt  wheel. 

It  is  three  feet  and  nine  inches  high,  five  feet  and  nine  inches  long,  and   two  feet 
wide  ;   weighs  110  lbs. 

Price,  complete . ,  , , $20  00 


XX     THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEE  KM  AN  ST. 


RAILWAY  HORSE  POWER. 


This  power,  Ellis  Patent,  we  have  proven  by  actual  tests,  gives  more  power  with 
same  elevation  and  same  weight  of  animals  than  aiij'  other  horsepower  yet  invented. 

The  seven  recent  patent  claims  are  very  important.  It  has  a  nvtcher  gear  instead 
of  the  common  spur  gear,  with  the  advantage  of  increased  firmness  ;  the  uniform 
length  and  width  of  lags,  in  connection  with  the  ratchet  gear,  gives  steadiness  and 
firmness  to  the  whole  track,  which  is  not  the  case  witli  spur  gear.  Tlie  new  arrange- 
ment for  oiling  the  rods  on  which  the  carrying  wheels  revolve,  is  a  labor-saving  fea- 
ture. These  improvements  are  new,  and  they  reduce  the  friction,  and  therefore  increase 
the  driving  power  to  an  extent  hitherto  unknown  in  any  kind  of  animal  power. 

One-horse  power,  with  patent  governor,  belt,  wrench,  oil-can  and  extras $100  00 

Two  "  "  "  "  "  '■  •'       150  00 

Three         "  "  "  "  "  •  ■       JiOO  00 


PLOWS   FOR  SPECIAL   PURPOSES. 

For  Root  Cutting  we  have  a  Steel  Plow  with  steel  share,  that  can  be  ground 
to  a  sharp  edge,  $1.5  00  ;  Wheel  and  Coulter,  $3  00  ;    Circular  Coulter,  $4  00. 

For  very  Stony  Ground,  where  better  plows  are  not  profitable  to  use,  short 
and  catching  quick.  Rough  and  Ready,  No.  2^,  Cast  Beam,  $7  00  ;  Rough  and  Ready, 
Wrought  Beam,  |9  00. 

SiDK  Hill  or  Swivel  Plows,  Leveler  Wood  Beam,  No.  2 $8  00 

"      No.  3 10  00 

'•        "  "  "       Automatic  Inm  Beam,  with  Coulter  12  00 

<'        "  "  "       Wrought   Beam,  without  Coulter  9  00 

"        "  "  "       One-Horse,  also  cheaper  (lualities. 

Double-Mold  Plows  for  Ridging,  Hilling  and  Cultivating  Corn,  Potatoes,  «&c.. 

Wrought  Beam 8  00 

"  "  "      Wood  Beam 4  00 

Subsoil  Plows,  Deep  Trenching  Plows  for  Asparagus,  Ditching,  »fec..  Road  Plows, 

Garden  or  Hand  Plows,  Potato  Diggers  :  Cast-Iron  Plows  in  infinite  variety  from 

$1  50  upward. 

MACHINES   FOR   SPECIAL   PURPOSES. 

Riding  Hay  Rakes,  Cider  Mills,  Lard  Presses,  Wine  Presses,  Farmers'  Boilers,  Ice 
Crushers,  Horse  Radish  Graters,  Seed  Drills.  Grain  Drills,  Corn  Planters,  Garden, 
Field  and  Road  Rollers,  Lawn  Mowers,  Horse  Powers,  Threshers  and  Cleaners,  Wind- 
mills for  Pumping,  &,c.,  Fanning  Mills,  Dog  Powers,  Corn  Shellers,  Road  Scrapers, 
Root  Cutters,  Wheelbarrows,  Water  Drawers,  Stable  Furniture,  Wagon  Jacks,  Hand 
Cultivators,  Cultivator  and  Pulverizer  Combined. 


THE  NEW  YOKK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN  ST. 


7..=H 


^oC'' 


We  ask  dealers  and  ci(/^ii'rt<ors  o/i/ie  soiZ  to  examine  carefully  the  peculiarities  in 
construction  of  the  Champion  Hoe  in  all  of  its  varieties,  inclufling  the  Centennial 
Double  Blade,  the  Centennial  Common,  the  Centennial  Planter's  and  the  Centennial 
Garden,  of  which  we  represent  a  full  line,  decide  on  their  merits,  whether  our  claims  to 
superiority  over  all  others  in  use  are  or  are  not  well  founded. 

Bj-  a  new  process  our  steel  is  all  rolled  heavier  in  the  shank  and  tapering  towards 
the  edge,  giving  strength  where  moat  needed  and  symmetry  of  form. 

The  Champion  Hoe  is  the  common  hoe  radically  improved.  For  the  first  time  the 
tubular  principle  is  applied  to  the  Hoe,  giving  immense  strength  without  unnecessary 
weight  of  metal,  both  to  the  large  and  small  blades.  The  entire  implement,  including 
the  socket  or  ferule,  is  made  of  a  single  piece  of  the  best  crucible  steel,  so  that  the  usual 
difficulty  of  the  shank  getting  loose  is  entirely  obviated.  Thus  we  combiue  great 
strength  with  lightness,  utility  and  durability. 

The  Centennial  Hoe  combines  the  leading  principle  of  the  Champion  Hoe  with 
other  marked  improvements.  The  ferule  is  cvit,  like  the  Champion,  from  the  same 
piece  of  steel  of  which  the  hoe  is  formed,  completing  it  for  the  handle  without  ^veld  or 
rivet;  there  is,  therefore,  nothing  to  give  way.  The  steel  is  of  the  best  quality— of 
trowel  temper  and  rolled  by  a  new  process — strong  in  shank  and  tapering  towards  the 
edge,  giving  the  greatest  strength  where  most  required.  In  cutting  out  the  ferule 
the  perforation  is  made  where  the  earth  always  collects  and  adheres,  thereby  remov- 


XXll 


THE  NEW  YOIJK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN  ST. 


iug  a  great  inconvenience  and  preventing  clogging  next  to  the  handle.    Of  the  Cen- 
tennial we  make 

FOrR  LEADING  VARIETIES. 

7'7/-«^— THK  TWO-HLADED   CRNTKXNIAL  (FigS.  7,  8,  9). 

Which  comprises  two  sizes,  six  inch  and  seven  inch.  This  hoe  is  admired  by  all 
who  have  used  it,  lor  the  ease  and  facility  witli  whicli  the  operator  can  execute  all 
kinds  of  hoeing  in  farmin;/,  f/ardening  or  in  the  nnrsery,  the  sides  as  well  as  the  ends 
being  brought  readily  into  use.    The  perforation  prevents  the  adhesion  of  the  soil. 

Secoud. — THE  plantkk's  iiok  (Figs.  1  and  12). 

Six,  seven  and  eight-inch  blade. 

This  hoe  is  heavfi,  Hlrotu/  and  made  of  the  best  steel,  which  takes  a  good  cutting 
edge  ;  warranted  to  tlie  dealers  and  to  the  purchaser. 

Third. — THE   SINGLE   BLADE   CENTENNIAL  HOE  (Fig.  2). 

Six-inch  and  seven-inch  blades,  warranted  of  the  best  material  and  workmanship. 

Fourth. — THE   CENTENNIAL  GARDEN  HOE  (FigS.  4  and  11). 

A  glance  at  this  hoe  will  satisfy  the  f/ardcner  or  the  dealer  that  it  is  incomparably 
the  best  artiile  of  tlie  kind  in  use.  There  are  two  varieties,  one  with  a  forked,  the 
other  with  a  pointed  end. 

N.  B. — All  of  our  hoes  are  of  the  same  kind  of  steel,  and  that  of  the  best  quality  ;  all 
are  rolled  to  order,  tapering  towards  the  edge,  giving  strength  and  perfection  of  foini. 
All  are  warranted.  All  of  them  have  been  carefully  perfected,  and  all  objectious  and 
defects  suggested  by  practical  men  removed. 


GARDEN  WEEDER. 


The  simplicity,  cheapness,  and  i)ractical  utility  of  this  weeder  places  it  ahead  of 
all  the  liand  cultivators.  It  will  pay  for  itself,  in  the  saving  of  labor,  several  times 
over  in  a  year. 

The  frame  is  of  wrought  iron,  light,  strong,  has  the  parallel  adjustment,  can  be 
readily  opened  and  closed  as  desired,  also  has  the  same  style  of  slotted  teeth  as  the 
one-horse  cultivator. 

The  handles  are  inserted  in  sockets,  and  can  be  [easily  taken  out,  making  it  very 
compact  for  shipment. 


THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEKMAN  ST. 


THE   JOHNSON 

PARALLEL  EXPANDING  CULTIVATORS  M  PULVERIZERS, 


NEW  AND  IMPORTANT  INVENTION. 


M.Us'UFACTURED  BY 

THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO., 

55  BEEKMAN  STREET,  NEW  YORK. 


ONE-HORSE  CULTIVATOR. 


The  frame  consists  of  a  centre  lieam  and  side  wings  to  wliicli  the  teeth  are  attach- 
ed. The  wings  are  hinged  to  the  beam,  so  tliat  they  swing  back  and  forth,  ])ara]lel 
with  the  beam,  narrowing  or  widening  as  tlie  space  requires,  keeping  tiie  teeth  al- 
ways in  tlie  same  line  of  draft.  Either  side  wing  can  be  moved  iudeixndent  of  tlie 
other,  back  or  forward,  or  one  back  and  the  other  forward,  the  teeth  then  being  in 
line.  The  wings  are  held  in  position  by  means  of  two  draw  braces,  one  end  of  which 
is  attached  to  the  wings,  the  other  to  the  centre  beam,  changed  at  pleasni*',  thus  va- 
rying the  width  as  the  cultivation  requires.  For  cultivating  in  very  narrow  sjiaces, 
move  one  wing  forward  and  the  other  backward  as  much  as  required,  and  remove  the 
front  tooth. 

It  is  thus  adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  corn,  potatoes,  beans,  cotton,  tobacco,  tur- 
nips and  other  growing  plants.  It  is  also  peculiarly  adai)ted  to  the  cultivation  of  nur- 
series and  orange  groves,  which  require  shallow  cultivation.  The  teetli  l)eing  slotted 
and  curved  with  sharp  cutting  edges  they  cut  the  weeds  and  grass,  and  thoroughly 
break  up  and  pulverize  the  soil  in  one  operation,  and  without  endangering  the  roots. 
The  wheel  regulates  the  depth  for  shallow  or  deep  cultivation. 


xiv  THE  NEW  YORK  PLOW  CO.,  55  BEEOIAN  ST. 

TAV(l-ll()l^SE    PARALLEL    EXPANDING    PULVER- 
IZER OR  GANG   PLOW. 


This  is  made  on  the  same  parallel  folding  principle  as  tlie  oiie-liorse  cultivator, 
with  extra  side-beams  and  teeth  ;  and  with  side-wheels  to  re<inlate  the  depth.  The 
wheels  are  secured  to  the  side-wings,  and  open  and  close  with  the  I'rame.  It.  is  easily 
adjusted  to  any  desired  width. 

Although  called  a  pulverizer  for  convenience,  it  is,  in  fact,  a  new  hnplanml,  per- 
forming, in  most  cases,  the  work  both  of  a  Gang  Plow  and  a  Cultivator,  and  doing  a 
larger  amount  of  work  in  much  greater  perfection  than  either  the  Gang  Plow  or  old- 
fashioned  Cultivator,  or  botli  combined. 

For  the  work  accomplished  it  is  of  remarkably  easy  draft.  It  is  readily  adjusted 
for  running  near  the  surface  of  the  ground,  cutting  and  destroying  every  weed  and 
thistle  ;  or  for  entering  the  ground  to  the  dejjth  desired  for  pulverizing.  It  works  up 
and  i»ulverizes  the  soil  to  a  greater  degree  of  perfection  than  any  other  implement 
known  to  the  cultivator  of  tlie  ground. 

It  can  be  readily  foldi  d  into  a  small  compass  for  shij^iing  or  storing. 

These  implements  all  have  slotted  teeth  which,  in  shallow  cultivation,  move  the 
weeds  from  their  bed,  aiul  in  deep  cultivation  tliroughly  pulverize  the  soil.  They  are 
all  well  protected  by  patents. 

Oue-Horsc  Cultivator $8  00 

Oiie-Horse  Cultivator  with  lliller II  00 

Hand  Wecder 4  50 

Two-Horse  Pulverizer 20  00 

Extra  Teeth  for  One,  Horse,  per  .set 2  00 

Hxtra  Teeth  for  T  wo  Horses,  per  set 5  00 

\ 

Accurate  Chemical  Analysis  of  CoALS,  Metai.s,  Ore.s,  FERTI- 
LIZERS, SoAi'.s,  Waters]  etc.,  made  by  FRANCIS  M.  ROGERS, 
Analytical  Chcuiist,   95   Liberty  Street,   New  York. 


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